LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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SlielfL.MS 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 



DUTIES INVOLVED 



IN THE 



IMPORTANT RELATION, 



BY THE 

Eev. THOMAS MUBPHY, D. D., 

Author op " Pastoral Theology," " Duties op Church- 
Members," etc. 

l1 




PHILADELPHIA : 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 

No. 1334 CHESTNUT STREET. 






\ \ 




The Library 
o* Congress 



WASHw wm^z 



T, 1887, BY 



THE TRUSTEES OF THE 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 



Westcott & Thomson, 
Stereotype™ and Electrotype™, PhUada. 



PEEFACE. 



The articles in this little work were first 
published in the columns of The Presbyte- 
rian, and in that form they found their way 
into the hands of many and widely-separated 
ministers and others. They seem to have 
met a want, for the author has received let- 
ters from North, South, East and West urg- 
ing that they be collected into a small vol- 
ume which could be conveniently distributed 
in churches. With the consent of The Pres- 
byterian, he has complied with that request, 
and now sends them out anew to the peo- 
ple of the churches. 

The special objects contemplated in their 



4 PREFACE. 

preparation were to awaken attention to cer- 
tain duties of the people to their pastors which 
are too much overlooked ; to suggest remedies 
for many evils prevailing in our church-life 
at the present time ; to say to the churches 
some things which it is embarrassing for the 
pastor to say for himself; to help in making 
the pastoral relation more efficient in the im- 
portant field of usefulness it occupies; and 
to put all in a form so brief and inexpensive 
that it may reach the body of church-mem- 
bers. This aim will not be attained unless 
there is a notice of matters much more mi- 
nute than ordinarily find their way into 
writings on Christian work. On subjects 
so vastly important as these, whatever may 
have been learned by much experience or 
from observation should be earnestly pressed 
home upon the hearts of all who love the 
cause of Christ and souls. In carrying out 



PREFACE. 5 

the purpose before the author's mind it has 
not come in his way, in any instance, to 
touch on points which separate the various 
denominations, and, consequently, in the whole 
unpretending volume there is no word which 
is not equally applicable to all. If anything 
has been written the tendency of which is 
to correct evils that have crept into our 
church-work and render the relations of peo- 
ple and pastor more happy and more efficient 
in the accomplishment of that for which such 
relations were ordained, then the ever-present 
desire of the author has been fulfilled. 
Philadelphia, 1887. 



CONTENTS. 



AKTICLE I. page 
Important Relationship 9 

AETICLE II. 
Electing a Pastor 16 

AKTICLE III. 
Love Your Own Church 33 

AKTICLE IV. 
Hearing and Criticising the Sermon .... 41 

AKTICLE V. 
Receiving the Pastor's Visits 51 

AKTICLE VI. 
Bearing Evil Keports to the Pastor .... 59 

AKTICLE VII. 
Guarding the Pastor's Time 68 

7 



8 CONTENTS. 

AETICLE VIII. page 

Working with the Pastor 78 

AETICLE IX. 
Aiding the Pastor by Attending Church . 84 

AETICLE X. 
Drawing Non-Attendants to Church .... 91 

AETICLE XL 
Minor Duties 100 

AETICLE XII. 
Spoiling a Pastor 107 

AETICLE XIII. 
Guarding the Pastor's Good Name 116 

AETICLE XIV. 
Pastor's Salary 122 

AETICLE XV. 
Prayer for the Pastor . 132 



PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 



ARTICLE I. 

IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIP. 

THERE are duties of a very intimate, 
binding and solemn character which the 
people of every church owe to their pastor ; 
among these are the obligations to pray for 
him, to aid him, to stand by him, and many 
others. These are claimed for him, not be- 
cause, as an individual, we would exalt him 
above others or ask for him special honor or 
centre on him peculiar privileges ; we do not 
ask for him, as a man, any more than we ask 
for other men. But he is not a private per- 
son : he is engaged in a work which has been 
given him by the great Head of the Church, 
and the results of which extend to the whole 
circle of society in which he moves. He stud- 

9 



10 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

ies and preaches and prays and visits from 
house to house in order that he may save souls 
and disseminate truth and righteousness and 
establish the principles of heavenly virtue 
and build up believers in holiness and comfort, 
and through all honor the name of the Son of 
God. His constant aim is to promote peace 
and prosperity in families, to inculcate princi- 
ples that will make the community happy and 
render the country safe and the government 
stable. Such is the work to which he is 
called, and which he accomplishes in propor- 
tion as he is faithful. 

The man who holds such a position as this 
is surely worthy of the sympathy and should 
receive the support of the whole congregation 
to which he ministers ; lie may well call upon 
his people to render him all the aid that is in 
their power. When they pray for him, 
they pray for their children, their friends, 
their neighbors; when they help him, they 
are helping the cause on which depend the 
highest interests of mankind. We should 
consider the solemn issues which will follow 
his ministry. He probably never preaches 



IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIP. 11 

a sermon but it is to some soul the "savor 
of life unto life or of death unto death." 
His position becomes awful when he stands 
by a death-bed, where within a few hours 
his instructions and his prayers may be in- 
strumental in helping a soul to glory or in 
letting it sink into despair. Under his min- 
istry there is a large community the youth 
of which receive their chief religious train- 
ing and moral bent from his preaching. No 
sermon is preached by him but thoughts are 
aroused and impulses given that must do 
much in forming the character of both old 
and young. These solemn facts are not in- 
cidental or casual things : they are the very 
essence of his work. 

It will thus be seen that the interests of 
people and of pastor are identical, and that 
what aids him in his work is of lasting ben- 
efit to them also. Hence, to strengthen and 
encourage him in his momentous calling is 
to send a healthful spiritual tone into every 
household. It is to produce a purer and 
warmer piety throughout the whole church. 
It is to make the church more consistent, 



12 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

more benevolent, more aggressive on the 
kingdom of Satan and more honored among 
men. It is to throw around the young strong 
safeguards by which they may be saved from 
a thousand dangers. It is to make the aged 
more happy and to render more undaunted their 
approach to the solemn close. Not only do all 
these things result from the nature of the 
case, but they are purposely and successfully 
aimed at when in ways they may easily learn 
the people uphold the hands of the pastor. 

As a matter of experience, it is found that 
the spiritual states of people and of pastor 
wax or wane together ; there may be excep- 
tions, as there are to all rules and results, 
but as a general fact they are found to go to- 
gether. When the pastor's piety is warm 
and loving and zealous, then the people are 
found to be devoted to the heavenly service ; 
when he is full of the spirit of missions, they 
are liberal in their contributions and ardent 
in their prayers and hopes ; when he has his 
heart set upon revivals and prays and preaches 
for them, then are the people seen longing and 
striving for times of refreshing. On the other 



IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIP. 13 

hand, when the pastor is cold and heartless 
and formal in his work, there is ordinarily 
but little life among the people ; when he is 
worldly, frivolous and carried away by pre- 
vailing fashions, then will you find a people 
who care far more for the things of time than 
for those of eternity. Hardly any fact in the 
practical work of the gospel is more invari- 
able than this. A godly pastor will have a 
godly people ; a zealous pastor, a zealous peo- 
ple ; and an inconsistent pastor, an inconsistent 
people. There are reasons why it can hardly 
be otherwise. The state of a pastor's heart 
must almost necessarily be reflected from the 
people ; it will give tone to his preaching, and 
that, again, will imprint itself on the hearts 
and the lives of his hearers. It cannot but 
be that a sympathy will go out from him 
which will influence those with whom he 
holds such intimate relations. More potent 
than even his words from the sacred desk 
will be his example, which will be followed 
by the people whether they so intend or 
not. 

This is a most appropriate and most beau- 



14 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

tiful appointment amid the various arrange- 
ments for the practical work of the kingdom. 
It makes men who have experienced the pow- 
er of divine grace to be the agents for estab- 
lishing that grace in the souls of their fellow- 
men. It makes men, and not angels, to be 
the greatest benefactors to those who are the 
blessed recipients of redemption. It ordains 
human influence to be one of the grandest 
agencies for blessing the world. This fact is 
distinctly recognized in Scripture, and charges 
are given accordingly, such as, " We beseech 
you, brethren, to know them which labor 
among you, and are over you in the Lord, 
and admonish you ; and to esteem them very 
highly in love for their work's sake." Very 
emphatic is this made by the honor which is 
put on pastors in the names which our Lord 
himself gives them, such as his " ambassa- 
dors," " stewards of the mysteries of God " 
and " stars in the right hand of the Son of 
man." 

Need another word be added to show the 
importance of all God's people helping their 
pastors by their influence, sympathy, co-opera- 



IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIP. 15 

tion, and especially by their prayers? It is 
of surpassing moment that this great duty 
should be deeply studied, that even the lit- 
tle things which it involves should be con- 
sidered, and that many things contained in it 
which have generally been overlooked should 
be seriously pondered. 



AKTICLE II. 

ELECTING A PASTOR. 

ALL ministers are not equally adapted to 
-^- a given church, even when their general 
qualifications are equally good. When, there- 
fore, the connection is first to be formed, it 
will be seen that a wise choice is of the high- 
est moment; the future comfort, prosperity 
and increase in grace of both people and 
pastor depend on it. 

While the church is vacant and the congre- 
gation is endeavoring to secure a pastor, it is 
undoubtedly a period of difficulty and danger 
with any people. Churches are sometimes al- 
most wrecked by strifes at such times. Parties 
may be formed. The many minds which form 
a congregation cannot be brought to see alike. 
Prejudices are likely to be excited, and to be- 
come very strong. There is hardly anything 
which strains the harmony of a congregation 

16 



ELECTING A PASTOR. 17 

as does this. Alienations are sometimes en- 
gendered which are as far as can be from the 
spirit of Christ. Against the pastor who is ul- 
timately chosen prejudices are often awakened 
which for a long time to come impair his use- 
fulness. Our aim is to throw out suggestions 
which may tend to avert such sad results. 

Congregations in choosing a pastor some- 
times make most unwise selection. The 
uppermost questions are, " Will this man 
attract the young ?" " Will he fill the pews, 
and so increase the revenues of the church ?" 
and not, " Is he truly a man of God ?" 
" Will he be zealous for souls ?" " Is the 
glory of God the first interest w T ith hiin?" 
Influenced by such motives as these, they 
select a man who startles by his cheap car- 
icatures of God's word, by his eccentricities, 
and, alas ! even by his buffoonery. They fill 
their pulpit, it may be, with an adventurer 
who has forsaken his mother-Church to find 
a better settlement in another denomination, 
an odd weakling who could find no home in 
his own connection or a money-lover who for- 
sakes his fathers' Church in order to make a 
2 



18 PEOPLE AND PASTOK. 

better living in another denomination that is 
more popular. No matter though the people 
have sad examples before them of such men 
disgracing their profession and bringing shame 
upon the denomination in which they were not 
nurtured, churches will ruin themselves and 
dishonor their name by selecting such men, 
rejecting, at the same time, some of the most 
excellent of the earth. "Attract to the sanc- 
tuary in any way, and afterward give those 
so attracted the truth," is the fallacious mot- 
to with some churches. Such an adventurer 
w T ill come to a vacant church, preach one 
or two of his striking popular sermons, in- 
gratiate himself with the more susceptible of 
the people, receive a call, accept it — and the 
church is blighted for many a year to come. 
We could give instances not a few of this 
kind. A saintly and very eminent pastor 
of Philadelphia, now in glory, many a time 
poured out the deep grief of his soul to the 
writer that so many of our churches were in 
this way almost making shipwreck of their 
hopes. Who can help weeping as he sees an 
old church, founded by godly men and with 



ELECTING A PASTOR. 19 

a blessed record, thus humiliated and blasted 
by the antics of an ecclesiastical clown ? Can- 
not churches be persuaded to exercise common 
sense and a sanctified judgment in this mat- 
ter, on which so much depends for them, their 
children and the world ? We speak so strong- 
ly on this subject because the course we con- 
demn is at the present time sadly lowering 
the dignity and usefulness of the pulpit. 

In view of such dangers, the first thing for 
a church, when seeking for a pastor, is to make 
it a matter of earnest prayer. After all care 
has been taken, serious mistakes are sometimes 
made. So much is at stake in the future useful- 
ness, comfort, prosperity, and even existence, of 
the church that this should be most prominent 
— should be the only satisfactory reliance. Such 
prayer should be sincere and honest, not merely 
for confirmation of the choice already deter- 
mined on, but for divine guidance in mak- 
ing the choice. It should be offered in public 
and social worship, in the family and in secret 
devotions. It would be well to set apart a 
whole day to be observed as a season of special 
prayer and fasting. Then it should be engaged 



20 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

in with the mind open for direction and with 
the determination to follow the pointing of 
God's finger. There is special encouragement 
for the offering of such prayer in that our Lord 
directed, " Pray ye therefore the Lord of the 
harvest, that he will send forth laborers into 
his harvest." The matter is so connected with 
God's glory that it may be regarded as in 
accordance with his will, and so an answer 
certainly be looked for. How easy it would 
be for him, in the arrangements of his provi- 
dence, to guide to the right choice ! When 
such prayer is offered honestly and earnestly, 
the answer will most assuredly be vouchsafed. 
Then how safe and blessed and prosperous in 
the end, when the pastor is chosen according 
to the mind of our all-wise Father ! 

The next step for the congregation should 
be to investigate, carefully yet justly, the an- 
tecedents of any candidate whom it may be 
determined to bring before the people for their 
election. This is probably the best merely 
human test that can be applied. Moreover, it 
is perfectly fair ; for in a matter involving the 
highest interests of the church the people have 



ELECTING A PASTOR. 21 

a right to know all that is in their reach con- 
cerning the man for whom they are to vote. 
Besides, as he properly seeks to know all 
that he can know of them, so should they also 
desire a full knowledge of him. This, how- 
ever, is a matter that is surrounded with diffi- 
culties and needs to be conducted with delicacy. 
It is at once the people's duty and their inter- 
est to obtain as full information as they can 
concerning the past history of the proposed 
pastor, especially if he has already held other 
charge or charges. The ordinary sources from 
which this record can be gathered are the pro- 
fessors under whom he has studied, officers or 
others connected with his former charges, 
members of the presbytery or other ecclesi- 
astical bodies with which he has previously 
been connected and individuals who have long 
been acquainted with him. Others who may 
have had opportunities of witnessing his work 
and standing may also be consulted. If only 
his special friends are interrogated, their par- 
tiality may keep them from rendering a full 
account of what he has been. 

Those who are thus applied to for informa- 



22 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

tion should give a full account of what he 
is and has done, without partiality, and, of 
course, under implied assurance of inviolable 
confidence. They are providentially called upon 
to do that which may be of vital consequence 
to that portion of God's kingdom, and may 
not decline. They are called upon not mere- 
ly to laud the man as their feelings might 
prompt, but to give a fair statement of what 
he is. Those who had the privilege of being 
acquainted with that greatest of men in Chris- 
tian wisdom, Rev. Dr. Archibald Alexander, 
know how promptly and judiciously he would 
respond to every application for such informa- 
tion concerning the young men who had been 
under his care. They know how certainly he 
would respond, how kindly he would speak 
of them, but how faithfully he would tell all, 
how discriminating would be his knowledge, 
and how tenderly he would mention any de- 
fects, lovingly expressing the hope that time 
would cure them. 

The points concerning which information 
should be sought regarding the candidate are 
such as the nature of his preparation for the 



ELECTING A PASTOE. 23 

ministry, the number of charges he may have 
held, the measure of his prevailing zeal for 
the salvation of souls, the character of his 
preaching, his success in gathering men into 
the kingdom, his influence in the community 
— above all, the fervor of his piety. 

It is marvelous how careless churches about 
to elect a pastor are concerning these matters, 
which should be uppermost. They first allow 
their feelings to be enlisted for or against the 
man, and then no amount or quality of 
testimony can have any influence on their 
acts. Many a pastor have we known to be 
called whom the slightest inquiry would have 
shown to be utterly unfitted for that charge. 
Many another have we seen rejected and 
wronged — and the church wronged with him 
— whose record would have shown him to be 
one of the noblest of ministers in heart, head, 
culture and all other qualities that go to make 
a polished shaft in the hand of Christ. 

After these essential preliminary steps, the 
next, ordinarily, will be to hear the candidate 
whose name may have been presented to the 
congregation. This is a matter for the people 



24 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

which is generally surrounded with very 
serious difficulties, and in which calm judg- 
ment and forbearance are much needed. Only 
a very inadequate opinion can be formed by 
the hearing of one or two discourses. On 
the one hand, the one or two sermons which 
are heard may be much above the average 
capacity of the speaker, w r ho is naturally de- 
sirous of making as good an impression as 
he can ; on the other hand, if he is a man of 
much sensitiveness, the peculiar circumstances 
are likely to confuse and embarrass him, so 
that he will fail of doing full justice to him- 
self. These and other like difficulties impose 
a very serious responsibility upon the session 
or other church authority in introducing a 
candidate to a congregation. Never should 
they admit to their pulpit any man from 
whose previous record they are not assured 
that, if elected, he would be suited to the field. 
Most resolutely should they exclude every 
man whose antecedents make it doubtful 
whether he has that exalted character which 
his office demands. They should not allow 
their own preferences to lead them, but should 



ELECTING A PASTOR. 25 

let their judgment, as formed by what they 
have learned of him, be their guide. By 
wisely conducting this matter of introducing 
candidates to the congregation, the elders can 
exert a very potent influence upon the final 
choice. When a candidate with an exalted 
record has been introduced to the church, he 
should have a full and fair opportunity of 
knowing and of being known by the people. 
One day in the pulpit is not, ordinarily, 
enough ; time should be fully given for con- 
sidering the momentous union that is con- 
templated. Better perhaps, however, that he 
should not mingle extensively with the con- 
gregation, and so give rise to the charge of 
electioneering. When such candidate has 
preached to the edification of the church, 
there should then be a vote of the people on 
his case alone ; on no account should the vote 
be divided between two or more candidates. 
Such a course is humiliating to the candi- 
dates and most dangerous to the harmony 
of the people. No man should be voted upon 
until he is fairly known to the people, and then 
his case should be decided by itself alone. 



26 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

A fair subject of inquiry among people, 
when about to make choice of a pastor, con- 
cerns the qualifications which should be ex- 
pected and which should determine the final 
choice. What should such qualifications be ? 
We would enumerate the essential ones, and 
in the order of their importance as they lie 
before us. 1. At the very head of the list, 
and beyond the reach of comparison, would 
we place sincere, ardent, single-eyed piety; 
2. Next would we name good, sanctified 
common sense, without which no element of 
pastoral work can properly be performed ; 3. 
Then that learning which is indispensable in 
interpreting the word of God, in bringing it 
home to the head and the heart of the peo- 
ple and in conducting the momentous affairs 
of Zion ; 4. We would also suggest as things 
which should be inquired after with great del- 
icacy, yet with fidelity, his habits of study, of 
visiting and of preaching. In making such 
inquiries as these concerning the proposed 
pastor there is nothing improperly inquisito- 
rial. The contemplated union is so vastly 
important and lasting that they are proper. 



ELECTING A PASTOR. 27 

One point in this matter needs special cau- 
tion — namely, that there should be the great- 
est care not to be unduly attracted by the 
fame of some genius, some eccentric charac- 
ter, who is drawing crowded houses. There 
are few things more sad and humiliating 
in churches at the present time than is the 
propensity to run after preaching that is sen- 
sational and odd and frivolous. Ministers 
who condemn it are in danger of being stig- 
matized as narrow or " old-fogy." But can 
there be anything more offensive in the sight 
of God and more hateful to fine Christian 
feeling than the practice of caricaturing the 
sacred word and presenting the awful mys- 
teries connected with the death of our Lord 
in words and figures which are low, coarse, 
vulgar, ridiculous, and which cause the hear- 
ers to stare and to giggle ? In the name of 
all that is high and holy, why will God's true 
people countenance such profanity ? Why do 
not redeemed men and women rise up in 
righteous wrath against such shameful pros- 
titution of our holy religion? Avoid all 
such so-called geniuses. They might fill the 



28 PEOPLE AND PASTOE. 

church for a time, but oh the lowering of the 
holy standard, the shame that would follow, 
and the injury to the blessed Name before which 
every knee is to bow in adoring reverence ! 

On the other hand, while all care is to be 
exercised, it should ever be borne in mind 
that a pastor perfect in every respect is not to 
be found ; that is not to be expected in this 
present imperfect state. No more can be 
done than diligently to use the providential 
opportunities that are given for inquiry, and 
then to leave all the results with the Church's 
adorable Head. 

A special perplexity with churches seeking 
to settle a pastor pertains to young men just 
entering the ministry ; at some times and in 
some places there is almost a mania for them, 
as if only young men have the vigor and the 
attractiveness that would fill the church. This 
impression is plausible, and yet there are two 
sides to it. It is true that young men will 
more likely attract the young ; but if a 
member of your family were sinking under a 
fatal disease, would you send for a physician 
just graduated, or for one who has expe- 



ELECTING A PASTOR. 29 

rience ? Would you prefer an inexperienced 
lawyer to conduct a suit in which your whole 
property was involved? Then are not the 
souPs interests more important than those 
of body or estate ? There is not on earth a 
more solemn position than is that of a pastor 
when called upon to direct a soul lingering on 
the brink of the eternal world ; the ripest and 
fullest experience is needed then. Then, too, 
how much is dependent on the pastor's mes- 
sage from the sacred desk ! One word may 
give some anxious soul an impulse upward 
toward glory or hasten its descent toward 
the habitations of woe. When, therefore, only 
young men will be listened to, it is forgotten that 
many years of precious experience are ignored. 
But is there no place for young men ? Are 
they never to have a beginning to their min- 
istry ? Are the fervor and the freshness of 
their years to be passed by as of no account? 
That too would be a serious mistake. 
Each age has its advantages — the young 
from their vivacity and attractiveness, and 
the experienced from their knowledge of the 
heart, of the wants of the soul and of the 



30 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

modes of applying the truth. The vivacity 
of youth, its energy, its proper ambition and 
its prospects of longer years of service, are 
undoubtedly qualifications which should be 
considered. On the other hand, the expe- 
rience, the accumulated knowledge of the 
human heart and of the divine word, and the 
facility reached in every department of the 
ministerial work, — these give to years a very 
great value. Between the advantages claimed 
on either side it would not be easy to decide. 
It is a case in which the special guidance of 
Providence should be implored. Such guid- 
ance will not be sought in vain. 

In most cases it probably is the best course, 
when practicable, to entrust the choice of a 
pastor to a committee of the wisest and the 
most devoted in the church, to let them visit 
the proposed pastor at his home, to hear him 
preach in his ordinary ministrations, and then 
to present their report for the ratification of 
the congregation. We cannot recall an in- 
stance when this plan did not work satisfac- 
torily. Far better commit the matter to a 
few of the wise and the good than to have it 



ELECTING A PASTOR. 31 

agitated by the multitude, with their discord- 
ant views, their prejudices, and possibly 
their whims. The two or three or four 
selected for this responsible task should be 
persons of piety, experience and good judg- 
ment. The commission might consist of one 
from the elders, one from the trustees and one 
from the private members, or of two from 
each. The consciousness of the solemn trust 
committed to them would make them the 
more careful as to the action they would 
recommend. As already intimated, when 
practicable, this commission should hear the 
candidate in his own pulpit, where his preach- 
ing will be less restrained and more like 
that of his ordinary ministrations. Their 
choice would, of course, be made subject to 
the ratification of the whole church — at least, 
in all ordinary cases. 

One solemn conviction should pervade 
every vacant church when the critical duty 
of electing a pastor is entered upon — namely, 
that it is to be the establishing of a relation- 
ship almost as near and as tender as that of 
the family, one which should not be broken ex- 



32 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

cept by death. To any people in such a case 
it may be said, " Here is a servant of God 
who is to bear a most intimate relation to you. 
It is a relation which should continue for life. 
This pastor whom you are to elect will influ- 
ence your whole being and that of your chil- 
dren. His intercourse with you will have a 
bearing upon the whole destiny of yourself 
and your family both for time and for eter- 
nity." 

It should also be a purpose with you that, 
so far as in you lies, this pastoral relation 
now to be established shall be a permanent 
one. When the new pastor has entered upon 
a relationship which he believes is to last for 
life, he will be careful to lay broad and deep 
foundations, especially in the religious train- 
ing of the young. Blessed is that church the 
great body of whose members never saw a 
change in the pastorate which they hold so 
dear ! Blessed, thrice blessed, is that pastor 
whose church is composed of members whom 
he has himself gathered into the fold, and 
whom he has seen growing up around him 
throughout his whole ministerial life ! 



ARTICLE III. 

LOVE YOUR OWN CHURCH. 

ONE who is conversant with the life of 
churches must see that there are serious 
evils — common to many of them — resulting 
rather from thoughtlessness than intention. 
One of these evils is the habit of mem- 
bers decrying everything pertaining to their 
own church, while they laud the excellences 
of others. Every custom, every act and char- 
acteristic, of the church with which they are 
connected is mismanaged or wrong, whilst 
every church of every other denomination 
is well conducted and attractive. 

This habit is often indulged to such a de- 
gree as seriously to injure the cause of relig- 
ion. Such persons give you no credit — at 
least, avowedly — for anything you may ac- 
complish. Take encouragement as you may 
from the progress of your church, or congratu- 

33 



34 PEOPLE AND PASTOK. 

late yourself upon the increasing sociability of 
your people, or rejoice in their improvement 
in benevolence, or express your gratification at 
the larger numbers that are uniting with your 
communion, or speak of the additional families 
that are coming to you from the world,- — all 
will be in vain : that neighboring church is 
advancing far more rapidly, or in that other 
there is a friendly spirit more attractive, or in 
another the contributions to the cause of Christ 
greatly exceed yours, or in that one far greater 
numbers are coming out from the world, or in 
another, again, there is an active progress which 
leaves you far behind. You may struggle hard 
to find something to the honor of your church, 
but all will be in vain. All is wrong with 
yours; all is right w T ith others. 

It is manifest that the indulgence of such a 
spirit discourages the pastor, sours the minds 
of those indulging it, injures their children, 
and, above all, wounds our blessed Lord. 

First, it sorely discourages the pastor. To 
disparage all that he does is to rob him, of 
all satisfaction, to deprive him of some of his 
highest motives, to cut off the very springs of 



LOVE YOUR OWN CHURCH. 35 

his activity, to cripple him in his zeal and to 
paralyze him in his strength. Imagine its in- 
fluence on him. He has labored to his utmost 
to establish a strong, efficient and beautiful 
church. He is rejoicing in the blessiug with 
which God has crowned him and his people, 
when, lo ! with a word you pull down all and 
leave him disheartened and discouraged. The 
prosperity of his church is his life, his work, 
his pride, but you overthrow all by the weight 
of your influence just as far as it will go. 
Take care ! The pastor is not a private per- 
son. What discourages and injures him in- 
jures the cause. Dampen his spirit, and 
the effect will be seen in sermons, pastoral 
visits, and every other duty to which he is 
called. Many a time his heart is made sad 
by the slighting words that are uttered re- 
garding his efforts to build up the kingdom. 
The pastor is not the only sufferer from this 
habit : it has also a most injurious influence 
upon the children and others in the family 
where it prevails. Hours which might profit- 
ably be employed in teaching them concerning 
the kingdom are filled with the rehearsals of 



36 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

deficiencies in the officers and members and 
services of the church. What must be the 
impressions made upon the minds of such 
children? What must be their recollections of 
such a church ? Must they not very soon come 
to look upon all other churches as better than 
their own ? Is it to be wondered at should 
they seek a spiritual home somewhere else 
or become so disgusted as to ignore all sanc- 
tuaries ? Many a time a word lightly spoken 
or a suspicion casually uttered will enter a 
child's mind and lodge there, and spring up, 
perchance many years afterward, in a harvest 
of bitter fruit. 

Another disastrous result of this habit is its 
evil influence upon the world outside of the 
Church. Charges against the cause are not 
so hurtful in their results while kept within 
the Christian family ; but when they go 
abroad, who shall limit their injurious ef- 
fects ? They have come from members of 
Christ's household ; they spread far and near; 
on they go unchecked. Their evil influence is 
simply illimitable. How the ungodly world 
gloats over them and makes them the occa- 



LOVE YOUR OWN CHURCH. 37 

sion for shooting deadly shafts against the 
cause of our Lord ! 

Moreover, it is not true that your own 
church is all wrong and others all right ; 
that charge is unjust, cruel, sinful. Those 
other churches whose excellences you exalt 
are not the perfection you depict. Would to 
God they were ! Either you are misinformed 
or you exaggerate rumors which have reached 
you. There are defects in them of which you 
have not a word to say. Could you look in- 
side of them, you would probably find at least 
as much cause for complaint as you do in your 
own church. On the other hand, it is a slan- 
der to charge such grave defects against every- 
thing in your own church. It has blemishes 
and shortcomings, it is true, as everything 
earthly has; but why dwell on these so con- 
stantly, and exaggerate them, and refuse to 
consider their palliations ? Besides, your own 
church, just as it is, is the best for you. You 
are identified with it, and you can do more 
good in it than in any other connection. 

Then let it never be forgotten that one of 
your first duties is love your own church, and 



38 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

to aid it and its work with all the weight 
of your example and influence. There is a 
power in the united and hearty sympathy and 
love of its members which makes any church 
irresistible. The opposite feeling is its weak- 
ness. Love, therefore, your own church, 
where God, in his providence, has placed 
you, where you have received so many person- 
al blessings, and where you can do more for the 
cause of Christ than anywhere else. Love its 
Ihistory and its plans of working for the 
beloved Lord. Love its communion seasons, 
its Sabbath-school, its meetings for prayer, its 
Sabbath services. Love its officers and love 
its members, whom Jesus loves, and whom he 
will at last take to be with himself in the 
Church above. Find out its bright side. 
Give it credit for whatever it is or has done 
in evidence that it is a branch of the blood- 
washed host of Christ. Imitate the example 
of the holy man who says, "If I forget thee, 

Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her 
cunning. If I do not remember thee, let 
my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if 

1 prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." 



LOVE YOUR OWN CHURCH. 39 

It will be neither uncharitable toward others 
nor bigoted to give to your church the warm- 
est affections of your heart. 

Love the church, and, instead of complain- 
ing, cover its faults. That in it there are in- 
consistencies and faults cannot be denied. The 
pastor knows this, feels it, and mourns over it 
as scarcely any private member can. When 
there shall .be no imperfections in the Church, 
then shall she be taken home and presented to 
her Lord " without spot, or wrinkle, or any 
such thing." But meantime why make her 
wounds bleed afresh by tearing them open ? 
Why make the sores worse by exposing them ? 
Rather hide them from an unfriendly world, 
and tell them only to Him who can cure. 
Cover them up with the mantle of charity, 
and, unless the interests of truth and right- 
eousness require, let them be forgotten. With 
all the affection of loving children vindicate 
the Church's good name and stand by her 
through evil report and through good report. 

Then determine to find the great pleasure 
of your life in the church and the sacred 
services of her sanctuary. This is a possible 



40 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

attainment. Was it not so with the inspired 
singer when he uttered the glorious words, 
"I was glad when they said unto me, Let us 
go into the house of the Lord"? or when, in 
another place, it is sung, U A day in thy courts 
is better than a thousand. I had rather be a 
doorkeeper in the house of my God than to 
dwell in the tents of wickedness"? Depend 
upon it, one of the greatest enjoyments of the 
soul is missed when this pleasure is not real- 
ized. Determine that in connection with 
your church you will find your holiest and 
happiest hours. Delight in her Sabbaths, 
enjoy her sacred feasts and find holy pleasure 
in all her services. Go to the house of God 
that there you may meet your best friends on 
earth, that you may rejoice in your Lord, and 
that you may receive a foretaste of the pleas- 
ures immortal which are at God's right hand. 
Let nothing stand between your soul and this 
spiritual pleasure, and then you will have 
neither occasion nor disposition to complain 
of those best of friends who with you behold 
the beauty of their Lord. 



ARTICLE IV. 

HEARING AND CRITICISING THE SERMON. 

IF it be the pastor's most important duty to 
preach the word, then it is the people's cor- 
responding duty to listen to him. Why shall 
the pastor preach if he is not heard ? Why 
shall he carefully prepare to preach if there 
be not attentive hearers? The appointment 
of preaching supposes the appointment of 
hearing also. When God laid the charge 
upon his ministerial servants, "Preach the 
word/' he also gave the charge, " If any man 
have ears to hear, let him hear." 

This matter of attending to the word of 
God as it is proclaimed from the sacred desk 
is a duty which has not been made sufficient- 
ly prominent. For obvious reasons it is one 
which it is* delicate and difficult for the pas- 
tor himself to press home. It is not easy for 
him to urge the people to give heed to his own 

41 



42 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

preaching. There is great difference in hear- 
ers, some finding it natural and easy to listen 
to every word, others being almost unable to 
give continued attention. To be a good hearer 
is an important attainment. It is, moreover, 
a habit that can be cultivated and in which 
there may be great improvement. No one 
should rest until he shall find joy of heart in 
listening to the words of life from the lips of 
the messenger of God. 

We may see the injustice which is often 
done to the message from God delivered in 
the pulpit if we consider the way in which it 
is received, compared with the attention which 
is given to some public speech or lecture. Some 
such lecture is announced, on science, art, poli- 
tics, travel, history, or some other secular sub- 
ject. The community is aroused and eager to 
attend it, and pay cheerfully for the privi- 
lege of attending. People will listen, strive 
to understand and talk about it with interest. 
It will be remembered afterward, its princi- 
ples studied and its counsels applied. Why 
are sermons so differently treated ? Why are 
they so rarely conversed about and carried out 



HEARING AND CRITICISING. 43 

into practical life? It is true that the fre- 
quency of their delivery and the sometimes 
unattractive manner of the preacher will ex- 
plain this in part, but only in part. Are not 
their subjects of ten thousand times more 
moment — of a moment that should far more 
than compensate for the other lack of attract- 
iveness? We cannot fully explain this, but 
we point to the sad fact as a warning to shun 
an inattention so deplorable in its results. 

Properly to receive the message which God 
sends through his servants is a solemn and re- 
sponsible duty. Though the pastor claims no 
priestly authority, yet he does speak by God's 
command, and may therefore claim attention. 
In a very important sense God speaks through 
him. The preacher is God's ambassador — his 
ambassador bearing tidings of peace. To be 
inattentive is to insult that ambassador, and 
so to insult the heavenly King who sent him. 
To close his ear against that message or to 
give no heed is to say that the terms of rec- 
onciliation will not be heeded, the blessing 
will not be accepted. Will the most high God 
tolerate such neglect of himself? 



44 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

In their treatment of the sermons which 
they hear there is a fault with many pro- 
fessed Christians that cannot be rebuked with 
too much severity. It is the habit of criticis- 
ing the preacher, of searching for defects in 
either the matter of his discourses or in the 
manner of their delivery, as if his preaching 
were a mere literary performance and had to 
do only with the intellect. As soon as the 
sermon is delivered it is attacked with the 
most searching severity. Its imperfections 
are sought out, exaggerated and paraded with- 
out mercy. The sermon lacks animation, it is 
dull, it is too long, it is full of repetition, it 
is an old one new-modeled, it is too doctrinal 
or it is full of errors and mistakes. The 
criticisms are often of the most trivial char- 
acter, condemning some mistake of grammar, 
some mispronounced word or some lapse in a 
statement of fact — so trivial as to be abso- 
lutely contemptible. This attack is often be- 
gun at the door of the church ; nothing else 
is heard on the way home, and it forms the 
staple of conversation at the dinner-table. 
No matter though there are present some 



HEAEING AND CRITICISING. 45 

who are unfriendly to religion : the wounds 
are torn open all the same. The presence 
of children is no restraint. Though every 
word is calculated to estrange them from pas- 
tor and from church, the merciless criticism 
goes on. 

This practice is thoughtless and cold-heart- 
ed ; it is destructive of all the purposes for 
which sermons were ordained. It is not 
wrong to see any defects which may be in 
a sermon : it is inevitable ; but the proper 
course is to go to the preacher himself and 
tell him of these things with kindness and 
with care. 

The ordinary mode of faultfinding is an 
unmitigated evil. It is a wrong done the 
pastor. He is himself perfectly aware that 
his sermons are not perfect ; none could find 
defects in them so well as he himself. Per- 
haps the discourse so much condemned had to 
be studied out under a pressure of other in- 
dispensable duties, or was interrupted while 
being prepared, or was composed while bod- 
ily ailments almost incapacitated its author for 
mental exertion. Besides, his prime object is 



46 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

not literary perfection, but to bring souls to 
Christ. No preacher is always at his best in his 
discourses ; the most popular will sometimes 
come far short of his ordinary abilities. Then, 
too, he flattered himself that his own people, 
who knew him so well, would judge charitably 
of defects in a sermon which he was compelled 
to prepare hastily. Such criticism is cruel; 
it is cruelty to apply the line of absolute 
faultlessness to every word and sentence he 
may utter. His appeal to the uncompro- 
mising critic would be, " Surely you did not 
consider the injustice, the injury, you inflicted 
when you paraded some mistake in fact, in 
grammar or in the pronounciation of a word 
in a discourse which was composed while 
racing with the minutes allowed me?" 

Again, this practice is a great wrong to the 
critic himself. He is cultivating a habit that 
will not only deprive him of much comfort, 
but will also bring after it many an hour of 
wretchedness. What course could be in- 
dulged that would so effectually keep the 
truths or the comforting doctrines of the 
gospel from reaching the heart and conscience? 



HEARING AND CRITICISING. 47 

It is acquiescing in the plan of Satan by which 
he strives to nullify the effects of preaching. 
For their own sakes, therefore, would we 
plead with hearers to banish this critical 
spirit, to say to it, as to its author, " Get thee 
hence, Satan !" to close every avenue of the 
mind against it and to open all to the sancti- 
fying influence of the truth. With all their 
defects — even if the criticism were just — the 
sermons have much that would instruct, ele- 
vate and sanctify. 

Look also at the deplorable wrong which 
the indulgence of this spirit of criticism does 
to the children, to the impenitent and to those 
who are unfriendly and skeptical. We could 
easily give instances of injuries done to such 
persons. It would seem incredible that any 
true Christian would speak disparagingly of 
preachers and sermons before children and 
others who could but be prejudiced thereby. 
Alas ! alas ! we know, however, that it is 
done. We know of children whose prospects 
for the life eternal have thus been blasted. 
No subsequent influences have succeeded in 
effacing the wrong impressions made in this 



48 PEOPLE AND PASTOK. 

thoughtless manner by sincere followers of 
Christ. Is it any wonder that children re- 
ceive no benefit from that preaching which is 
always received by censorious ears? What 
can be expected but that such children will 
come to lose interest in the condemned ser- 
mons, begin to criticise, to pick flaws, and 
finally to ridicule? 

To assail even faulty sermons in the pres- 
ence of the ungodly or of those who have 
been awakened to concern about the interests 

of their souls is simply horrible. Mr. C 

was not a professed member of the church, 
but he was a very dear friend of his pastor. 
For many years that pastor had striven to 
bring him to an honest confession of the 
name of Christ. He had almost succeeded, 
and expected that at the next communion 
season he would take his stand with the 
followers of Jesus. On the Sabbath previous 
to that communion the pastor preached a ser- 
mon on the subject of the Lord's Supper with 

this friend's case in view. Mr. C 's heart 

was touched ; the tear trembled in his eye ; his 
purpose was all but formed. To a prominent 



HEARING AND CRITICISING. 49 

officer of the church, at the close of the ser- 
vice, he spoke with delight of the sermon. 
The officer replied with a criticism of the 
discourse. It was like a death-stab to that 
heart trembling on the brink of decision. 
The man's soul was chilled ; he was irritated ; 

he turned away from his purpose. Mr. C 

never professed Christ before men. Not many 
months afterward he went into the presence 
of his Maker. The earnest efforts of the 
pastor, the pleading appeals he had made, the 
letters he had written at the midnight hour, 
w r ere all blighted in a moment ; the hopes of 
many anxious friends were crushed ; the ben- 
efit to the Church of the example of that in- 
fluential man was lost ; and all from the 
thoughtless criticism of that church-officer. 
He did not intend it; he never knew the 
harm he had done. The knowledge of it 
would have embittered the rest of his days. 
This case may serve as a warning to all. 
Oh, why will any professed child of God 
continue a habit so useless, so reckless, so 
cruel and so full of danger? 

To all those whom our words can influence 

4 



50 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

we appeal to consider what a very solemn 
thing it is to receive a message from the 
great God delivered in his own appointed 
way. No sermon did you ever hear which did 
not contain some important truth ; it should not 
have been condemned because of some fancied 
or real defect. Any sermon that you shall 
ever hear may contain the very truth of 
which your soul is most in need : then why 
not look for that truth, and not for faults ? 
God is watching the effect of his word upon 
your heart ; angels are watching ; your eter- 
nal interests are concerned. However weak 
the instrument by which that word is con- 
veyed, why will you disappoint all by merely 
fixing upon some defect in the delivery of the 
message? 

Then, too, let it never be lost sight of that 
the sermon which you criticise may be the last 
you will ever hear. If you knew you would 
never hear another, would vou then trifle 
about little mistakes that could not possibly 
do any lasting harm? Take care how you 
treat the message from God, or the messenger, 
or the adorable King who sent the messenger. 



AETICLE V. 

RECEIVING THE PASTOR^ VISITS. 

THE greeting with which the pastor is fre- 
quently received as he calls upon families 
that are very dear to him is, " What a stran- 
ger you are I" and this too from sincere 
friends who would not dream of using such 
words if they reflected for a moment on the 
pain they inflict. The pastor's heart sinks at 
the very moment he would have it overflowing 
with kindness. The words may be intended to 
convey a cordial welcome ; but when they are 
followed by reproaches, he feels them deeply. 
Such complaint will often destroy for him the 
whole comfort of the visit, and consequently 
its pleasure and profit to the family. When 
he is received with reproaches, either plainly 
expressed or insinuated, he will find it the 
more easy to postpone the next visit. Not 
only in the beginning, but also throughout 

51 



52 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

the whole visit, too often the time is taken up 
with faultfinding about a neglect that was 
never intended. Sometimes such complain- 
ing is the very bane of a pastor's life. As he 
goes from house to house his heart grows sore 
and his energies are weakened. 

There is a practical evil here among Chris- 
tian people which they would shun if they con- 
sidered the feelings of him whose desire is to 
benefit their souls. Many pastors have their 
lives in this way embittered, especially when 
they are peculiarly sensitive. They are con- 
scious of honestly planning to fill up their 
hours to the best advantage, but are met only 
by whisperings and censures. It is scarcely 
to be wondered at that in this w 7 ay many a 
faithful minister has his usefulness almost de- 
stroyed. He is human and has human feel- 
ings — feelings rendered finer and more acute by 
the Christian culture which his profession re- 
quires. 

The people do not reflect upon the many 
other duties of an indispensable character 
which press upon their pastor, rendering it 
impossible for him to bestow on them that 



RECEIVING THE PASTOR'S VISITS. 53 

attention which his feelings would prompt. 
He must prepare sermons, deliver lectures, 
attend funerals and marriages, visit the sor- 
rowing, the sick and the dying, read and an- 
swer letters, counsel with the troubled, enter- 
tain strangers, use his influence in aiding the 
poor, and perform innumerable other duties. 
Sometimes for weeks at a time he will be so 
taken up with aged and dying people as they 
hover on the brink of the grave that he will 
have no time whatever to bestow upon the or- 
dinary visiting of families. In planning out 
his work he has perhaps for weeks before 
arranged to visit you on a certain day. It 
comes — the very hour comes — when he is 
summoned and must go to a funeral, or to 
some other equally imperative duty. This oc- 
curs time after time— -perhaps for weeks — and 
you think he is neglecting your family, where- 
as his disappointment is greater than yours. 
In fact — especially if his congregation is large 
— he often cannot do as he purposes. You 
would not censure him if you knew all ; you 
wrong him simply because you do not see the 
multitude and the urgency of his duties. 



54 PEOPLE AND PASTOK. 

Congregations, too, ought to consider that if 
most of their pastor's time is spent in visiting 
from house to house his sermons must suffer. 
It is not simply the number of hours that are 
thus taken from the preparation for the pulpit, 
but the mental energy and vigor also that are 
thus spent. Preaching is the minister's high- 
est calling, and that upon which the most 
important interests are suspended. No per- 
sons but those who experience it know how 
great is the mental strain required to prepare 
to deliver the mind of God to the same audi- 
ence two or three times a week, and that week 
after week, month after month, perchance year 
after year, and so as to keep up that variety 
that will properly interest, profit and do any 
justice to the sacred Book from which all the 
matter must be drawn. The sermon must be 
ready; no matter what else may call away, 
that cannot be put off. The divine appoint- 
ment, "Preach the word," must be heeded 
above all else. If there be remissness here, 
the sad consequences will soon be seen. On 
careful preparation for the pulpit depend 
the conversion of souls, the edification of 



RECEIVING THE PASTORS VISITS. 55 

believers, the retention of strangers, the inter- 
esting of the young, and, in general, the whole 
prosperity of the church. If either the visit- 
ing or the preaching must suffer in the pas- 
toral work of a large congregation, should it 
be that on which are suspended such moment- 
ous interests ? 

Another important consideration is that in 
ordinary circumstances, where there is neither 
sickness nor sorrow in a family, a visit from 
the pastor is scarcely needed. The visit, 
though pleasant to both parties, has not an 
object sufficiently important that for it other 
weighty duties should be omitted. The peo- 
ple see him on the Sabbath ; they may meet 
him at the weekly lecture ; they have inter- 
views with him at funerals, weddings, social 
gatherings, and various other times in the 
ordinary intercourse of life. His interest in 
them and theirs in him may be kept up in 
this and similar ways. 

It should also be understood that the advan- 
tage of a pastor's visit depends much upon the 
state of the family. If there be any special 
spiritual wants in any members of the house- 



56 PEOPLE AND PASTOE. 

hold, they should be communicated to him 
with as little delay and with as much freedom 
as possible. He is anxious to promote your 
spiritual welfare ; of that you are sure, and 
therefore, also, sure that nothing will be so 
welcome to him as to have anv wants of the 
soul imparted to him. Diffidence may hold 
him back until you open your heart. A thou- 
sandfold more agreeable will that be to him 
than the idle gossip that is afloat through 
the congregation. State, then, at once, your 
doubts, your fears, your perplexities, your 
anxieties, your desires for higher attainments 
in the divine life, or anything else in which 
his counsel may be of use to you. Tell him, 
also, of anything special in the spiritual state 
of the members of your household — wheth- 
er they are indifferent or worldly, or anxious 
about their souls' salvation. If they are not 
present, it will guide him in his future inter- 
course with them. Nothing will interest him 
in your family so much as this ; nothing will 
attract him so surely to your home as your 
making him to feel that you look to him as 
your spiritual adviser. 



RECEIVING THE PASTOR'S VISITS. 57 

The importance of pastoral visiting is very 
great in every respect. It establishes and 
keeps up an acquaintanceship which makes 
the pastor more and more interested in his 
people as he discovers in them qualities that 
must attract. It increases the confidence 
which should ever exist between pastor and 
people, furnishes him an opportunity of know- 
ing the spiritual wants of those to whom he 
ministers, of applying the truths of the gos- 
pel to each peculiarity of trial and temptation, 
and of selecting such subjects for his sermons 
as will be most beneficial to the congregation. 
The faithful pastor will visit from house to 
house as much as in his power. With all the 
confidence, then, which they have in him 
should his people rely upon it that absence 
from their homes is caused by the pressure of 
other duties which cannot be neglected. 

The relations between people and pastor are 
so sacred that in this, as in everything else, 
there should be full confidence. His entrance 
into your house should be an occasion for 
consultation about the interests of the soul 
and the cause which is so dear to both. 



58 PEOPLE AND PASTOK. 

Certain it is that he intends your highest 
welfare, and you should do what you can to 
help him to be useful. The interests of Christ 
and his cause should be uppermost in every 
interview. Then will each one of the pastor's 
visits be a happiness to him ; it will make 
others to be anticipated with delight by the 
people, and it will give an impulse to the 
blessed cause which is so dear to both. 



AETICLE VI. 

BEARING EVIL REPORTS TO THE PASTOR. 

IN many churches there are persons who 
make it their business to carry to the pas- 
tor reports concerning the shortcomings and 
faults of their fellow-members. They seldom 
meet him but they have complaints to make 
— that one violates the Lord's day by worldly 
visits, or that another habitually absents him- 
self from the services of the sanctuary, or that 
another is faulty in the religious training of 
his children, or that another has been de- 
tected in the neglect of wife or parents, or 
that another frequents dances and other irre- 
ligious amusements, or that another is untrue, 
or that another furtively indulges in the in- 
toxicating cup. And all of these accusations 
are accompanied with the charge of inviolable 
secrecy. The writer was once intimate with 
an eminent pastor, now in glory, whose life 

59 



60 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

was embittered by one of his members who 
made it his business to carry to him all such 
stories that he could collect. The pastor was 
afraid to meet that man, for well did he know 
that no interview would close without his be- 
ing pained by some such charge. Many 
wretched hours do pastors of sensitive feel- 
ing have from such a practice in some of 
their members. 

It is humiliating to reflect on what must be 
the motives which lead to this course. With 
some, no doubt, the only motive is that they 
may have something about which to converse 
pleasingly. But what a mistake to attempt 
to please a man of God by mean attacks upon 
the absent ! In many cases it is mere thought- 
lessness ; with some it is mistaken zeal. As 
an old writer remarked, "detraction or 
slander is often applauded when it displays 
itself in the garb of zeal and severity. Hence, 
in the same manner, this vice insinuates itself 
also into holy people* and creeps upon them 
unawares under the name of some virtue." 
Some even charge it to conscience — poor con- 
science ! which so often is made responsible for 



BEARING EVIL REPORTS. 61 

the indulgence of passion or prejudice. The 
sad truth must be confessed that in some cases 
this complaining to the pastor is practiced to 
satisfy cherished grudges. In other cases 
still — we blush for our Christianity — it can 
be explained in no other way than as coming 
from a wanton desire for excitement and mis- 
chief. 

This habit of gossiping and talebearing is 
one that is evil in all cases, but worst of all 
is it when the reports are carried to the pas- 
tor. Then is it full of malign influence to the 
pastor, to the victims of the slanderous stories 
and to him who carries them. To the pastor 
it is an insult and an injury of a very griev- 
ous character. The charm of his office is 
love to his people and confidence in them. 
He must think well of his people if he would 
preach to them with that earnest affection that 
would reach their hearts and win them to the 
truth. Weaken his confidence in them, and* 
you weaken the fervor of his appeals. The 
moment there are suspicions against them lodg- 
ed in his mind, that moment he becomes tram- 
meled in the cordiality of his visits and em- 



62 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

barrassed in his presentations of truth to 
their minds. A wound is inflicted upon the 
soul of the affectionate pastor when he hears 
sad reports of those who are the dearest of 
earth to him. The constant hearing of them 
becomes a burden he can scarcely bear. And, 
far worse than the injury to him, they are a 
wound to the Church and to the Church's 
loving Lord. 

Hardly need it be added that such evil re- 
ports often inflict injuries almost irreparable 
upon those whom they revile. Years after- 
ward the bitter fruits may be reaped by the 
victims, though they were perfectly innocent 
of the charges. Suspicion lodged in the 
pastor's mind may blur the otherwise spotless 
forms of friends he loves most dearly. Even 
when they are not credited, they sometimes 
awaken suspicions which time can scarce 
efface. You would not stab a fellow-Christian 
with a murderous weapon ; you would not set 
fire to his house ; you would help him were 
he sick or in sorrow ; but you bring to his 
pastor against that fellow-Christian a charge 
worse than the bodily wound or the loss 



BEARING EVIL REPORTS. 63 

of property or than weeks of sickness by 
lodging against him a complaint calculated 
to poison the pastor's mind. A sad case of 
the kind is known to the writer. A valued 
member of a certain church was accused to 
his pastor of occasional indulgence in intoxi- 
cating drink. The accuser, though he made 
the charge verbally, most positively refused to 
testify to its truth, and, belonging to another 
denomination, he could not be forced so to do. 
A strict inquiry was made and the impu- 
tation found to be groundless, yet a suspicion 
had been awakened which fixed a stigma upon 
that slandered man which adheres to him still 
and will prevent him from ever standing 
before the community as he had stood all 
his previous life. 

Nor do such bearers to their pastor of evil 
reports imagine the injury that they are doing 
to themselves. If they did, they would pause 
before scattering firebrands, wounds and sor- 
rows — a harvest of woes that they will have 
to reap before many years. The pastor is 
injured, the victims of the slanderous tongue 
are injured, but it is questionable whether the 



64 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

talebearers are not the greatest sufferers in the 
end. 

Cannot such bearers of evil reports about 
their brethren see that they are taking the 
surest method of lowering themselves in the 
pastor's esteem? To one such bearer of 
slanderous tidings a faithful pastor made a re- 
ply so decided and so just that we will quote it. 
She was undertaking to apologize for w T hat 
she called an unpleasant duty. " Stop !" 
said the pastor; "do not add sin to sin. 
Besides, I do not want an apology, for you 
have neither offended nor injured me. But I 
can tell you One whom you have grievously 
offended : that is God. And I can tell you 
also one whom you have greatly injured: 
that is yourself. Now, I should like to read to 
you two or three passages of Scripture which 
will prove to you that talebearing is a great 
sin in the sight of the Almighty. Reproving 
talebearers among the Christians of Thessa- 
lonica, the apostle writes, i We hear that there 
are some among you which walk disorderly, 
working not at all, but are busybodies.' The 
same apostle also, in his Epistle to Timothy, 



BEARING EVIL REPORTS. 65 

speaks thus of talebearing : 'And withal they 
learn to be idle, wandering about from house 
to house ; and not only idle, but tattlers also, 
and busybodies, speaking things they ought 
not/ The apostle Peter also advises all 
Christians not to l suffer as . busybodies in 
other men's matters/ So malign was the 
habit that there was a special law against it 
in these words : 'Thou shalt not go up and 
down as a talebearer among, thy people/ 
Divine wisdom has portrayed its enormity: 
'The words of a talebearer are as wounds, 
and they go down into the innermost parts 
of the belly/ A special warning is given, 
to be used by the pastor : i Speak to them that 
they be not false accusers.'" We sum up all 
in one beautiful description of the man of 
God — the man who shall at last dwell with 
the Most High : " He backbiteth not with his 
tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor 
taheth up a reproach against his neighbor" 
One of the wrongs of this habit of bearing 
evil reports to the pastor is that you may be 
mistaken ; the facts may have been misrepre- 
sented to you. Misunderstandings are the 



66 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

cause of most strifes and alienations. If you 
knew all the circumstances of him whom you 
accuse, you would probably praise rather than 
blame. Then what have you done — done to 
one who is praiseworthy? You have in- 
flicted a wound which you can never heal — 
done a wrong for which you can never atone. 
Besides, even what is true is not always to be 
rehearsed. Why proclaim to others the fail- 
ings of a brother ? Why render the wounds 
to the cause of Christ more painful and incur- 
able ? Why exasperate the erring and render 
their return more hopeless ? Why expose the 
sores the sight of which will but humiliate and 
degrade the sufferer ? Oh, never should such 
exposure be made, even to the pastor, except- 
ing when the honor of the cause of righteous- 
ness and truth requires, and when those bear- 
ing the charges to the pastor are ready to 
stand by them and to vindicate the good 
name of that Church which is so dear to 
our Lord. 

We have met with poetic words on this sub- 
ject which are so true, so appropriate and so 
beautiful that we shall close with them : 



BEARING EVIL REPORTS. 67 

" Other people have their faults, 
And so have you as well ; 
But all ye chance to see or hear 
Ye have no right to tell. 

" If ye canna speak o' good, 

Take care and see and feel ; 
Earth has all too much o' woe, 
And not enough o' weal. 

" Be careful that ye make nae strife 
Wi' meddling tongue and brain, 
For ye will find enough to do 
If ye but look at hame. 

" If ye carina speak d > good. 

Oh, dinna speak at all, 
For there is grief and woe enough 
On this terrestrial ball. 

" If ye should feel like picking flaws> 

Ye better go, I ween, 
And read the Book that tells ye all 
About the mote and beam. 

" Dinna lend a ready ear 
To gossip or to strife, 
Or perhaps 'twill make for ye 
Nae funny thing of life. 

" Oh, dinna add to others' woe, 
Nor mock it with your mirth, 
But give ye kindly sympathy 
To suffering ones of earth." 



AETICLE VII 



GUARDING THE PASTOR^ TIME. 



IT is true that the time of the pastor belongs 
to his church, but it should be borne in 
mind that his highest duty to his people is 
his preaching. Preaching is that to which he 
is ordained of God, with which are involved 
the supreme interests of his people. There 
are other duties devolving upon him, such 
as visiting the sick, comforting the troubled, 
directing the inquiring, and many others ; but 
above them all, connected with and influencing 
them all, is the duty of preaching. He must 
obey his Lord and "preach the word" 

To discharge this great duty as effectively 
as possible there is need for constant study. 
To understand the heavenly message in all its 
length and breadth, to accompany it with the 
weighty motives which divine wisdom has pro- 
vided and to adapt it to the circumstances of 

68 



GUARDING THE PASTOR^ TIME. 69 

the pastor's own people require the most entire 
application of heart and head. As in all sim- 
ilar cases, God has appointed the co-operation 
of human instrumentality. He might easily 
accomplish all by his own miraculous power, 
but his established method is to use the agency 
of men. He calls for their sympathy, their 
learning and their power of persuasion by 
which to bring home his messages to hearts 
and consciences. This is the work which 
Christ has laid upon the pastor, and the peo- 
ple can aid him in it much more than they 
imagine. In the matters of religion and the 
soul there is such an intimate relation between 
speaker and hearers that they act and react 
on each other in a most influential manner. 

The people can aid the pastor in his 
preaching by their constant attendance upon 
his ministry and by giving an attentive ear to 
his words, by showing that the truths which 
he has uttered have entered into their hearts 
and are influencing their lives. By these and 
also by many other indirect ways can they stim- 
ulate and encourage him in his preaching. 

The people can aid their pastor in a more di- 



70 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

rect way by suggesting to him subjects for ser- 
mons, for it must excite his interest and ardor 
to know that he is giving instruction which is 
specially needed and desired. They can aid 
him by protecting him from unnecessary cares 
which would distract his mind from the great 
work of preparing his sermons. Chiefly can 
they aid him by neither breaking in upon his 
time of study themselves nor allowing others 
to do so, so far as it is in their power to pre- 
vent it. We would call particular attention 
to this point. In order to preach well, the 
pastor must be much in his study. He must 
be in it. Some pastors may be men of such 
powers that at first they may be able to preach 
a few superior sermons with but little study ; 
yet it will be for a very short while unless 
there is miraculous aid given to them. The 
pastor who does not study will inevitably soon 
become " a humble imitator of himself." He 
will weary the hearers by his reiteration. He 
will fall into ruts of thought and language, 
and both himself and his people will so lose 
interest that but little good can be expected 
from his labors. 



GUARDING THE PASTORS TIME. 71 

A very little reflection will show that this 
must be the case. The pastor of any ordinary 
church is called on to preach every week — 
usually twice in the week — to the same audi- 
ence, on substantially the same subject, and 
that week after week, month after month, 
year after year. It is not possible to do this 
without constant repetition unless there is un- 
wearied study to replenish the mind with new 
stores of thought, and to arrange and present 
the truth in such varied methods as will arrest 
the attention and interest it in the subject. To 
do this, however, requires an amount of study 
and research into the wonders of the inspired 
word of God to which there is absolutely no 
end. There is no patent method of reaching 
the boundless treasure. There is no mortal 
who can keep up the needed variety without 
the toil which is the ordained price of success 
here as well as in everything else. The pas- 
tor who imagines that he can is self-deceived ; 
the people who expect it will be miserably 
disappointed. In order to accomplish this 
amount of study, there must be time — much time 
— given to it. When the presentation of the 



72 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

truth is needed every week, there must be time 
devoted to the study every week, every day. 
It must be the great work of the pastor's life. 
Without it failure will be inevitable. In or- 
der to enrich the minds of his congregation 
with the truths of the Bible and to enamor 
them with its study, the pastor must himself 
first rise to that experience ; and that he can do 
only by spending much time without interrup- 
tion in his study. On the very surface of the 
sacred book lie the few simple truths that are 
needed for salvation, but deeper and deeper 
down lie countless other treasures which need 
to be laboriously dug for by all who would 
enjoy them or teach them to others. In ex- 
ploring the riches of Scripture there is a pecu- 
liar charm unknown and unimagined by those 
who give not their time to it. Earth has no 
such rich and precious thoughts as reward 
those who give their days and nights to the 
search for them in God's sacred mine. Why 
should these for ever lie hidden from the peo- 
ple for the want of the needed time and toil 
of the pastor? Why should it not be his 
sacred ambition to lead his people to the bless- 



GUARDING THE PASTOR^ TIME. 73 

ed distinction of being a people rich in script- 
ural knowledge? Why should not his days 
and his weeks be spent in imbuing their minds 
with the knowledge and spirit of the sacred 
word? Why should it not be his aim to 
awaken in them a holy enthusiasm concerning 
the wisdom contained in the Book of books? 
It is possible, but it can be reached only by 
constant study and unbroken toil. 

We may also notice that the preparation of 
his sermons is not the pastor's only work ; 
there are other employments for the study 
which the world does not see. A pastor who 
has been long in his charge or has a position of 
any eminence has to conduct a correspondence 
which would almost fill up the time of an or- 
dinary man. He must be continually engaged 
in other lines of the study of God's word than 
those which pertain to the sermon immediate- 
ly on hand. It is necessary for him to be a 
well-informed man, and this requires him to 
read the current news of the day and to be 
familiar with the leading literature of the 
language. Then there are popular drifts 
of thought, philosophical, scientific, even skep- 



74 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

tical, of which it will not do for him to be ig- 
norant. Moreover, he ought to keep himself 
familiar with the sacred tongues of the Bible, 
and he should not be willing to live without 
sometimes putting to the press thoughts that 
will go much farther than his voice can reach. 
Most of these things are essential to the pastor's 
work, and where shall be the time for them 
unless there shall be the most rigid economy 
•in its use, and unless his people shall aid him 
iin rescuing every minute from interruption 
and waste? Be it remembered, too, that it is 
not the mere quantum of time which is taken 
from him by unnecessary interruptions in his 
hours of study. That he can poorly spare, 
but there is a worse evil in the breaking in 
upon his trains of thought. Little does some 
thoughtless visitor know what trouble he has 
occasioned by even a few moments of inter- 
ruption on some unimportant business. The 
pastor has been for hours engaged in some 
line of research; he has been pursuing some 
thought which is gradually looming up before 
him ; his enthusiasm upon the subject has 
been kindled into a flame ; his whole heart 



GUARDING THE PASTOR ? S TIME. 75 

and head are alive and the pen is in his hand 
to fix the happy inspiration, when, lo ! there 
conies a summons to go down to a messen- 
ger on most urgent business. . With a pang of 
pain he obeys, descends to the messenger, and 
with positive exasperation finds the call is to 
ask where a certain family resides or to buy a 
book he does not want. The train of thought 
cannot be recalled ; the enthusiasm is no more ; 
the subject is wrecked ; the sermon has lost 
all its spirit ; the day is gone ! This picture 
is not imaginary ; the scene is not rare. 

There are three kinds of interruptions to the 
studies of the pastor which ought to be care- 
fully noted. The first is one that is always 
welcome. It is when a friend calls to tell him 
of any soul that has been awakened to a sense 
of the importance of the salvation of Christ, 
or of any other spiritual interest in the church 
which demands the pastor's attention. Such 
visits cannot be too frequent. 

The second class of interruptions is that of 
mere social calls prompted by courtesy or by 
good feeling toward the pastor. He would be 
unkind and ungrateful did he not appreciate 



76 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

such attentions from those whom he highly 
regards. But even such visitors would un- 
doubtedly select an hour when they would 
not break in on his studies did they but re- 
flect on the demands of his work. 

A third class of calls can hardly be con- 
demned too severely. They are made by 
persons who are themselves without any busi- 
ness and push themselves on the pastor — as if 
he had nothing to do — to get his help in pass- 
ing away their time. They will come in the 
morning, place themselves in his most com- 
fortable corner and without thought or re- 
morse waste his whole day. They will 
come an hour before the commencement of 
public worship to spend that hour with the 
poor tortured pastor. The pastor cannot of- 
fend them by requesting them to stay away, 
but oh the distress they occasion, the sermons 
which they ruin and the hours of his precious 
time they take from him ! 

What is the remedy for these drawbacks to 
the usefulness of the pastor ? Not, assuredly, 
to cut off intercourse between him and his 
people, or to discourage their social visits to 



GUARDING THE PASTOH's TIME. 77 

him, or to make of himself a recluse. By no 
means would we have this, but on every 
account we would have an intercourse most 
constant and friendly. Yet manifestly there 
should be care taken that calls upon the pas- 
tor be not at hours when he is usually engaged. 
A little care will show what his study-hours 
are; there should be an understanding that 
these hours are sacred, while all others are 
open to the most cordial friendship. 

One other thing only would we advise : the 
people should daily pray for their pastor that 
he may be aided in the work of preparing his 
sermons. Well might that be a subject for 
special prayer, since so much depends on 
every sermon a pastor delivers, and since the 
highest human wisdom is so poorly able to 
perform a work so momentous. Thus to pray 
for aid to the pastor in preparing his sermons 
will unite people and pastor in strong sympa- 
thy in that which is his greatest work, and, 
forming that bond of sympathy at the mercy- 
seat, it will unite people and pastor, and God 
himself, in that divine enterprise whose aim is 
the salvation of men and the glory of God. 



ARTICLE VIII. 

WORKING WITH THE PASTOR. 

A MAE VELOUSLY rich and minute pas- 
sage in the Epistle to the Ephesians thus 
describes the growth of the church according 
to the will of God : " May grow up into 
him in all things, which is the head, even 
Christ ; from whom the whole body fitly 
joined together and compacted by that which 
every joint supplieth, according to the effect- 
ual working in the measure of every part, 
maketh increase of the body unto the edifying 
of itself in love." We would ask the reader 
to give this passage earnest thought and see 
how it will expand in its rich instructions. 
The manner in which it makes the growth 
of a human body to illustrate what should 
be the growth of the church is a most attract- 
ive study. In the matter of the people aid- 
ing the pastor we can see its teachings in the 
following points : 

78 



WORKING WITH THE PASTOR. 79 

1. Each part of the entire body must work 
toward the development of the whole. Every 
individual must do apart of the work. Such 
is the law — " the effectual working in the 
measure of every part." In the body there 
are nerves, bones, blood-vessels, and other 
parts innumerable, and each of them has a 
work to do ; the Lord of the Church has 
given to each of its members his own work. 
Every redeemed man, woman and child has 
his or her share of responsibilty. 

2. A second point taught is that each one 
is appointed to work in his own place and 
according to his own opportunities. It is not 
simply that each one has some work to do, 
but that he has a special work which he, and 
he only, can do. The whole body " is fitly 
joined together," and the growth is to be 
"according; to the effectual working in the 
measure of every part." No part is expected 
to do the work of any other part nor what is 
not according to its nature, but every part has 
some peculiar work of its own. Each mem- 
ber of the church has some talent, opportu- 
nity, function, and, corresponding with these, 



80 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

some special work for which he is solemnly 
bound. 

3. A third point is that each part must work 
in conjunction with all the rest in order to 
effect the general good result. It is not 
enough that each part should do some work, 
nor even that it should do its appropriate 
work, but the work must all be concentrated 
and aimed at the same end. The whole body 
is " fitly joined together and compacted " in 
order that it may be suitably increased by 
" that which every joint supplieth." This 
brings before us a most beautiful and im- 
portant rule of Christian activity — that all the 
branches and kinds and items of the work of 
all its members should have the one object of 
building up the Church in Christ Jesus. 
Then there will be no antagonisms in the 
various operations that are carried on ; there 
will be no loss of influence, as there is when 
there is isolation in doing good : there will be 
no cold indifference as to other branches of 
the work ; and there will be no crossing of 
interests in carrying it on. God has estab- 
lished his Church to gather up, economize, 



WORKING WITH THE PASTOR. 81 

concentrate and solidify all the efforts of all 
her members, that so nothing may be lost, 
but all be brought to bear upon the one glori- 
ous object of building up his kingdom. 

Two other points, on which we need not 
now dwell, are brought to view — namely, that 
all the strength for this work shall come from 
Christ, and that love shall be the great motive 
stimulating and guiding it all. 

In the practical work of building up the 
church in piety, influence and numbers it is 
important to understand well what instrumen- 
talities can be used with the best prospect of suc- 
cess. Organizations such as Dorcas societies, 
young people's associations, pastor's aids, mis- 
sionary bands, etc., are helpful ; they concen- 
trate effort, nourish interest and call into ser- 
vice the aid of individuals who would not other- 
wise attempt anything. No church can af- 
ford to do without such organizations. They 
may, however, be abused. They may keep 
waiting for them individuals who otherwise 
would have improved current opportunities, 
they may encourage the feeling that only 
great objects should be attempted, and they 



82 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

may lead to serious complications with the 
established authorities of the church unless 
they are most wisely conducted. 

Very emphatic would we make it that or- 
ganizations should not be waited for. To 
those who feel the obligation to aid the pas- 
tor it may be said, " Wait for no organization, 
but promptly lay hold of the opportunity 
which presents itself at the moment. Invite to 
the sanctuary whatever friend or neighbor you 
first think of as neglecting it. Visit and aid 
the ignorant, the irreligious, the poor, the sick 
or the sorrowing whom you find at your door. 
The duty first offering itself is the one to 
w T hich Providence calls you; there you will 
be most likely to be successful in aiding the 
cause. Take care lest while you wait for or- 
ganization the opportunity may be gone. Let 
Providence point out what you are to under- 
take, and wait for nothing on earth when you 
have that prompting. Even if the object 
appear insignificant, the result may prove 
vastly important. 

An ignorant, intemperate and brutalized 
man unable to utter a sentence through the 



WORKING WITH THE PASTOR. 83 

habit of stammering was met by a devoted 
Christian worker. A more hopeless object, 
apparently, there could not be, but, using all 
the means she could devise, that worker strove 
to bring him to Christ, and succeeded. The 
change wrought by the Holy Ghost in the 
brutalized man was radical and permanent. 
He abandoned his dissipated habits ; he learned 
to read the word of God ; he presented ap- 
propriate tracts to those who had been as 
abandoned as he had been ; he strove to rescue 
his former intemperate associates ; his in- 
fluence broke up a den of drunkenness ; 
he overcame his infirmity so far as to lead in 
public prayer and address ; he was instrumen- 
tal in plucking many as brands from the 
burning, some of them the most depraved 
and hopeless of his neighbors. All this 
resulted from that one faithful worker's im- 
proving an opportunity the least promising 
that could be imagined. If Christians general- 
ly would pursue this course, laying hold upon 
the first and nearest opportunity that offered, 
the result upon the church as well as upon the 
souls of individuals would prove most blessed. 



AKTICLE IX. 

AIDING THE PASTOR BY ATTENDING 
CHURCH. 

ONE of the essential claims growing out of 
the work of the church is that every one 
of her members shall render what aid he can 
in the momentous task to which the pastor is 
called. According to divine arrangement, to 
the teachings of experience and to the very 
nature of the case, it is manifest that the pas- 
tor is to be the leader in the church's work, 
and not to undertake all that work himself. 
With him as leader, the whole force of all 
the members can be concentrated on the same 
great enterprise. As leader, he is not to do all 
the work himself, but his skill is to be made 
to pervade the whole body and render it effect- 
ive. A rule that should be adopted by every 
church is that each one of its members shall 
systematically aid the pastor in each duty 
that is in his power. 

84 



AIDING THE PASTOR. 85 

The private members can aid the pastor by 
regular attendance upon his pulpit ministra- 
tions, and more help can thus be rendered him 
than may at first be imagined. The sanctua- 
ry is the gathering-place of the people of God 
for the promotion of the divine cause ; in the 
sanctuary chiefly God makes known his glory 
and receives the adoration of his people. If 
there is any place on earth where the pastor 
needs to have his faithful friends stand by him 3 
it is in the house of God and in the services 
connected therewith. 

For his own sake the individual believer 
should never needlessly be absent from the 
house of God. The worship of the sanctua- 
ry is one of the leading means of grace which 
God has appointed for the cultivation of piety 
in the hearts of his people. Through its in- 
fluence and opportunities believers may in- 
crease in knowledge, devotion, and every 
Christian grace. If anywhere joy in the 
Holy Ghost and the peace of God which 
passeth all understanding may be expected, it 
is there. The Christian wrongs his own soul 
and retards the pastor's work if he does not 



86 PEOPLE AND PASTOE. 

.faithfully make use of this method of rising 
'higher in the divine life. 

Our present aim, however, is to urge church 
attendance as an important method of aid- 
ing the pastor. Do Christians consider how 
much they can encourage their minister by 
simply meeting him at all times in the house 
of God, and so identifying themselves with 
his great work there ? Their very presence 
and assurance of sympathy aid him; they 
give more influence to his words by show- 
ing, among other things, that they are interested 
in listening to him. On the other hand, their 
absence chills his soul and freezes up his 
words. He cannot help being influenced by 
it even in his preaching. He anxiously looks 
around the gathering assembly, and how often 
his heart sinks as he finds absent so many to 
whom he looked for moral support ! 

For the interest of the meeting each member 
ought always to be in his seat when the con- 
gregation assembles for worship. With per- 
fect assurance we may say to each individual 
that he is responsible, in his measure, for im- 
parting life or for causing a chill to come over 



AIDING THE PASTOR. 87 

any meeting. No one can stay away without 
being missed ; no one can be present without 
imparting a measure of influence toward the 
animation and comfort and profit of that gath- 
ering of believers. The presence of num- 
bers is one of the essential elements in the 
assemblies of churches. God knoweth our 
frame, and he has ordained that the sympathy 
which is so strong an element in our nature 
should in this way be turned to profit. The 
mere gathering with those who love the Lord 
has an influence for good. Like the increas- 
ing flame which is produced by bringing live 
coals together, so the flame of love is increased 
by the coming together of the piety of vari- 
ous hearts. What life and joy are imparted 
when many are found gathered in the place 
of prayer ! What rapture in the singing as 
from the voices of a multitude swell up the 
strains of the sweet song ! How many a life- 
less meeting has been made so by the absence of 
those whom God and the brethren and the inter- 
ests of the cause had looked to for sympathy ! 
For the sake of the church's own members 
all should attend. Our fellow-Christians have 



88 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

claims upon us in this matter. Every man 
has an influence upon every other man with 
whom he is providentially associated. To see 
many others alive and interested in the cause 
of Christ and souls cannot but awaken deep 
feeling in every heart. It is an animating 
sight when many friends in Christ come to- 
gether to cheer each other on their way to 
Zion. How can it be made sufficiently em- 
phatic that simply by meeting with other Chris- 
tians in the house of God each is doing some- 
thing to build up all in true holiness ? 

For the sake of the impenitent world the peo- 
ple of God should never absent themselves 
from the worship of his house. Men cannot 
be unmoved when they see those who profess 
the gospel so much alive to its interests that 
at any inconvenience, year after year, they re- 
sort to the place of service. On the other 
hand, they cannot but doubt the sincerity of 
those who care not enough about religion to 
attend its weekly assemblies. The stranger 
goes to the house of God ; he finds that many 
of the church's own members are not there : is 
it to be wondered at if he turns away chilled 



AIDING THE PASTOR. 89 

from the associations of those who are so indif- 
ferent ? Would that God's people could only 
realize that simply by going regularly to the 
house of God they will attract thither the 
impenitent, and so bring them under the 
sound of the gospel, which may prove the 
first step toward their finding the salvation of 
Christ ! How easy it would be for them in this 
way to render the pastor most important aid ! 
Above all other considerations, the followers 
of Christ should always be found at the wor- 
ship of his house that by their attendance they 
may render him the honor which is his due. 
The world despises or ignores him ; it should 
be their aim to take this method of glorify- 
ing him before men. The gathering together 
in his name is a rebuke to the prevailing un- 
godliness. It is proclaiming to the world that 
we love God supremely. It is so publishing 
his name, his truth and his glories that men 
cannot ignore them. But to stay away from 
the place where his honor dwelleth, what a 
slight to his name! Does the professed be- 
liever realize how he is treating his Lord 
when he will not even take the trouble of 



90 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

meeting with his people? It may be said 
that he can be worshiped at home. True ; 
but our Lord has appointed public worship as 
a method of honoring him before the world, 
and to neglect it is to do so much toward de- 
feating that object. He knew the best way of 
honoring his name when he appointed the ser- 
vices of the sanctuary, and they cannot be in- 
tentionally neglected without insulting his 
wisdom, his goodness and his majesty. 

Oh that Christians would awake to this 
vitally important duty ! If they would do 
so, if they would make it a rule never to 
absent themselves from the public or other 
services of the church, if they w r ould so ar- 
range their worldly engagements as to keep 
sacred the hours for meeting with Christ and 
his people, — their piety would receive new 
vigor and each meeting for worship be filled 
with life and joy, the pastor encouraged for 
more vigorous work, other Christians revived, 
the impenitent attracted to the house of God, 
and the adorable Lord receive from worshiping 
hearts that glory which is the highest and best 
service that can be rendered him on earth. 



AETICLE X. 

DRAWING NON-ATTENDANTS TO CHURCH. 

AVERY important point has been gained 
when any one living without God and 
without hope in the world has been induced 
to become an attendant at the sanctuary. 
There is but little hope for one who is in the 
way of every temptation, yet does not ever go 
to the house of God. Our duty is to endeavor 
to bring such persons into the sacred place 
where God has his way of pardoning mercy. 
The pastor cannot well do it himself, as from 
delicacy he is hindered in inviting to the 
hearing of his own sermon and there would 
be suspicion that he had interested motives. 
It is a most affecting thought that in a com- 
munity of Bibles and Sabbaths and preaching 
and sacraments there are so many who are as 
neglectful of all as if they were in the gloom 
of paganism. There is not a member of the 

91 



92 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

church but has some friend or neighbor whom 
he better than any other person can influence 
to go to the house of God. We are not to 
wait until men of their own accord come to 
the sanctuary. The law of the kingdom is 
that we are to go out to the highways and 
hedges and compel men to come in. The 
plain duty of every child of God is to put 
forth all his efforts to bring neglecters to the 
ordinances of God's house. 

Further, no duty can more easily be un- 
derstood or more easily performed than this. 
How many Christians say that there is noth- 
ing which they can do to help the pastor ! 
They allege that they have no influence, no 
talents, no opportunities of which they can 
make use. How can they say that, when 
they never go out to hunt up a friend or a 
neighbor, to ask him to go with them to the 
house of God ? They see husband or son or 
brother or neighbor or friend or partner in 
business, or others, habitually neglecting the 
sanctuary, and never say one word to lead 
him there? How can they say that they can 
do nothing to help the pastor while this duty 



DRAWING NON-ATTENDANTS. 93 

is so obvious and so easy ? Ah ! they could 
help, and they know it ; but they will not take 
the trouble. A purchaser stood in a store wait- 
ing for the packing up of goods which he had 
ordered ; a few words were naturally passing 
with the merchant who waited on him. Here 
was an opportunity for saying a word to a 
stranger. " Do you attend any place of wor- 
ship on the Lord's day ?" was asked by the 
buyer. "No," was the merchant's reply. 
Then, commending the preaching of his pas- 
tor and the friendliness of his fellow-members, 
the customer gave him a cordial invitation to 
attend the church of which he was a member. 
The invitation was accepted with gratitude. 

Even a child might give this help to a pas- 
tor ; in a case known to the writer a child did 
do so. That child in the Sabbath-school in- 
vited a child-playmate to go with him to the 
school. The invited little one was glad, and 
went. He went, and was happy in the new 
experience of the school for the study of the 
Bible. He went again and again ; his heart 
became enlisted. He drew parents and brothers 
and sisters after him to the church ; the family 



94 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

identified itself with the congregation. The lit- 
tle one grew to be a man, and was brought 
to the salvation of Christ; he loved the 
church and was beloved and trusted by its 
members ; he aided in its worship and be- 
came one of its most faithful elders, and his 
co-workers put him at the head of its Sabbath- 
school. All this was from the invitation of a 
child made in a most simple way. Yet there 
are not a few who say they can do nothing ! 

Another instructive fact, of a different kind, 
will show the vast results that would follow 
if church-members would only exert them- 
selves even a little in this matter. Induced 
by the charge so often made that our young 
people are straying away, a pastor examined 
the roll of his members in a church which 
would probably be a fair representative of 
churches generally. He took the hundred 
names last added to that roll as probably 
a fair sample of the rest. He was per- 
fectly familiar with the antecedents of all 
his members in their church relations. The 
surprising fact came out upon careful exam- 
ination that of the hundred persons selected 



DRAWING NON-ATTENDANTS. 95 

forty-six of them had not been brought up 
in the faith of that church. Forty-six, or 
nearly half, of the members of that church 
were gathered in from the world. Yet there 
was nothing peculiar in the circumstances of 
the church — in its history, its location, its ad- 
vantages for work. The pastor fully believed 
that if he and his members had been as faith- 
ful as they should have been the proportion 
would have been, not forty-six, but nearer 
seventy-five. Almost half of that church had 
been gathered in from the world or from those 
who were fast straying into the coldness and 
the dreariness of utter neglect of religion. 
Such a fact speaks volumes, and should 
stimulate every member of the church to 
do far more in gathering strangers into the 
house of God. 

This is a method of aiding the pastor which 
has been sadly overlooked. It is with it as 
is often the case with the plainest and easiest 
duties. They are so plain and easy that they 
are scarcely thought of, while grand but vague 
schemes are sought after. Private members 
cannot preach ; possibly they cannot pray in 



96 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

public ; it may be that they cannot give much 
to the cause of Christ ; but here is a thing 
which they can do just as well as pastor or 
elders. 

Why is it that this duty is so much neglect- 
ed? Not that the members are without op- 
portunities, or that they are without influence, 
or that they have no disposition to do good. 
The only conceivable reason for it is want of 
consideration. Christians do not reflect what 
good it is in their power to do in this way ; 
they have a vague impression that all that can 
be done has already been accomplished ; that 
minister, elders and Sabbath- school teachers 
will do all ; that those not already in the hab- 
it of attending church cannot be brought to 
it; or that such an insignificant thing as 
bringing a neighbor to the sanctuary is not 
worthy of much effort. Resting on these 
impressions, they live on from year to year 
without doing, or even attempting, anything 
to aid the pastor in his great work. 

What might well be the language of the 
glowing Christian heart ? " Here is a method 
of bringing men under the sound of the gos- 



DRAWING NON-ATTENDANTS. 97 

pel — as clear as day, so easy that a child might 
work it, requiring no expenditure of money, 
available for every believer, requiring little sac- - 
rifice and little trouble — by which I might as- 
sist my pastor by bringing into the place of 
worship those to whom he might deliver the 
message of God's mercy, might draw friends 
whom I dearly love into the path which 
would conduct them to endless life and glo- 
ry, and by which I might be instrumental in 
bringing much glory to the name of my lov- 
ing Lord. All this lies plainly before me, 
and yet I am utterly neglecting it. How 
can I bear the thought ? How can I hereafter 
meet those whom I would not do even that to 
save? How can I face my Lord, who shed 
his blood for me, and confess that I would 
not even speak a word to an irreligious neigh- 
bor to honor him ?" 

This is a duty which lies before each mem- 
ber of the church ; not one can say that he has 
no concern in it. When, in any church, but 
few persons are in the habit of attending, and 
pews are empty and a chill of discomfort 
comes over one as he enters, much of the 

7 



98 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

blame may rest upon the inefficiency of the 
pnstor, bat most emphatically do we say that 
much of it also rests upon the people. No one 
who is not striving to fill the church by gath- 
ering in others has any right to complain of 
it. If the members were as faithful as they 
easily might be, almost any church would very 
soon be filled. Oh that we could persuade peo- 
ple to make the trial ! A church is well known 
to the writer where the people have a mind to 
work in this way, and the effect is that on one 
occasion, even when the pastor was absent for 
months and the preaching was of a decidedly 
inferior character, it was almost impossible to 
find an empty seat. 

With all earnestness would we beg each 
member of the church to try this method of 
aiding his minister. Fix your mind upon 
some member of your family, some neighbor 
or some acquaintance, and follow him up ; 
never rest until you succeed in drawing him 
to the sanctuary, and then select another and 
another, and so render a service that will be 
most blessed. The influence of your exam- 
ple will spread, others will take the same 



DRAWING NON-ATTENDANTS. 99 

course, and it will be but a little while until 
your heart shall leap with joy at the renewed 
interest in your house of worship, and your 
pastor will have fresh unction in delivering 
the message which increasing numbers flock 
to hear. 



AKTICLE XI. 

MINOR DUTIES. 

MEMBERS of the church can render val- 
uable assistance to the pastor by inform- 
ing him of cases which need his attention. 
Far as the east is from the west is it from 
our thought to encourage the spirit of tattling 
and gossip. It will not amuse the pastor nor 
please him nor aid him to carry to him the 
stories which are current in the community. 
Not this do we advise, but there is informa- 
tion about individuals in the church which 
would be of much value to him, and which 
he is not in the way of receiving, but which 
his church-members may impart to him. 

Tell your pastor at once of individuals 
whom you know to be concerned about the 
state of their souls. Almost always there are 
persons in the congregation who are anxious 
as to what they must do to be saved ; if the 
100 



MINOK DUTIES. 101 

pastor knew it, he might lead them to the 
Saviour, and so prevent their convictions 
from passing away and their souls from be- 
coming lost. 

Tell him who are sick. Do not leave him 
to find it out by their absence from church 
or by an indefinite report that may possibly 
travel round to him, but inform him directly, 
and request him to visit them. There is often 
great injustice done to pastors in this matter. 
They so often hear of persons who are ailing 
from colds or headaches, or other slight indis- 
positions, all of whom they cannot possibly 
visit, and it is so utterly impossible for them 
to see who are absent from their places in the 
sanctuary, that they must not be expected to vis- 
it the sick unless they are distinctly informed 
and invited to go where they are needed. 

Inform the pastor of any whom you may 
know to be disaffected. Persons will sometimes 
take offence at him, and cherish that feeling 
for months and nurture it until it results in a 
serious breach, while all the time he is igno- 
rant of the fact and of its cause, and a word 
of explanation might result in the healing of 



102 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

all. A pastor met a much-esteemed member 
of his church on the street and passed him by 
without a word of recognition. The reason 
was that, being accustomed to see the man in 
his Sabbath attire, he did not recognize him 
in his work-day habiliments, besmeared with 
smoke and oil. The man, though very highly 
respected by his pastor, took offence, and, the 
pastor knowing nothing of it, the offence con- 
tinued for months and could never be rectified. 
A single word of explanation through a friend 
would have prevented this. 

Tell the pastor of persons who are falling 
into the habit of neglecting the sanctuary ; of 
new families who have just come into the 
neighborhood ; of individuals who have ex- 
perienced afflictions or upon whom troubles 
have fallen ; of young people who ought to 
come out on the side of Christ ; or of any 
other cases that should receive his attention. 

There is another class of little things by 
which the people might add much to the com- 
fort, and through that to the efficiency, of the 
pastor. They are so little, and apparently so 
insignificant, that they are generally over- 



MINOR DUTIES. 103 

looked. They pertain to the bearing of the 
church's members in the house of God. 
More aid can be rendered the pastor in the 
time of public worship than is ordinarily 
imagined, because so much depends on the 
state of his heart and feelings while conduct- 
ing the services of the sanctuary. The very 
devoutness of his people, as depicted on their 
countenances and shown in their movements, 
cannot but influence the minister in that hour 
so momentous to them and to him. The cor- 
dial welcoming of strangers to the house of 
God, directing them to seats, handing them 
hymn-books, and other little attentions, will 
spread a feeling of kindliness that must 
be beneficial. There is not one member but 
can contribute to the calmness, the solem- 
nity and the atmosphere of devotion which 
make the services of God's house so blessed in 
their influence. The gentle subduing of the 
whispering of a restless boy, the opening or 
closing of a window that is distracting atten- 
tion, the aiding a distressed mother with her 
crying child, the awaking in an unnoticed 
manner a sleeper whose habits of daily toil 



104 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

make him unable to overcome the unwelcome 
influence, and many other such trifles, will 
serve to aid in overcoming distractions and 
producing that peaceful feeling which is ap- 
propriate to the house of God, and so aid in 
giving impressiveness to the service. 

Among other such aids to the pastor, espe- 
cially in the prayer-meeting and more social 
worship, is that of occupying seats that wilt 
be near to him in the room, and not back by 
door or wall. This is a matter the import- 
ance of which it is exceedingly difficult to 
get people to appreciate. They come into 
the meeting and take seats as far as possible 
from the minister. Are they afraid of him ? 
Do they want to hide ? Do they not want it 
to be known that they are present ? It goes to 
the pastor's heart when he sees some loved 
one enter, look around as if he would lend the 
influence of his presence by taking a seat near 
to the desk, then apparently hesitating, but at 
length settling down in the most remote cor- 
ner. It would cheer the pastor and inspirit 
his words if those in whom he is so much in- 
terested would always take places so near him 



MINOR DUTIES. 105 

that their earnest faces would encourage him, 
where it would be seen that they were in full 
sympathy, and where their very nearness to 
the pastor and to each other would give 
warmth and life to the whole service. It is 
strange that the absolute pleading of almost 
all pastors, the obvious advantage of the mat- 
ter and the ease with which it could be done 
cannot move people to give heed to a request 
so often made and so intimately connected 
with the comfort and the profit of the hours 
of social worship. 

There are still other things which would 
give much aid to the pastor in the services of 
the sanctuary. If the members would all have 
Bibles in their hands to follow in the reading 
of the word and to examine the text in its 
connections and better to remember it, he 
would be animated by witnessing such in- 
terest, and the profit of the service would be 
far greater both to them and to him. The 
simple act of standing in public prayer would 
better denote their reverence for the glorious 
Being addressed, would increase the fervor of 
the minister while leading in that part of the 



106 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

devotions, and would keep their own atten- 
tion more keenly awake, and so add to the 
profit of the services. 

These and other such things appear little, 
but they are not little either in themselves, 
in their aggregate importance or in their influ- 
ence upon the pastor's life and work. While 
leading the devotions of the sanctuary — espe- 
cially while preaching — he is in his moment- 
ous work, and whatever aids him there must 
be of importance to the church, to the pastor, 
and to the effort to glorify the Church's divine 
Head in the way that he has himself appointed. 

Our closing appeal is for all the aid that 
each can render in the pastor's work. Re- 
member that it is for your soul's immortal 
welfare. Remember that it is also for the 
Church, the bride of Christ. Remember, 
above all, that it is for your beloved Lord, 
for whom every power of every soul for 
every hour of life is not too much — nay, not 
enough. 



AKTICLE XII. 

SPOILING A PASTOR. 

IT is proper that the writer should throw 
out a guard against a misconception which 
the drift of his remarks in these articles may 
possibly awaken. It might seem that he was 
indulging in a censorious spirit concerning the 
people of our churches in relation to their 
pastors, and so manifesting the very disposi- 
tion which he condemns in others. Most em- 
phatically would he disown any such intent. 
Not a thought has he of laying the things he 
condemns to the charge of them all, or even of 
a large minority of them. His aim is rather to 
awaken attention to certain evils in some pro- 
fessed Christians, often the result of inadvert- 
ency, and which they would flee from in hor- 
ror if they realized the harm they are doing. 
Neither is it in his mind to accuse the people 
as specially blamable in contradistinction to 

107 



108 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

the perfection of pastors. He is not blind to 
the deficiencies of many ministers, nor does 
he intend to depict them as guiltless or to 
claim for them any prerogatives or profession- 
al privileges which do not necessarily spring 
from their office. But, being deeply impress- 
ed with the thought that the comfort and use- 
fulness and spiritual life of the people are con- 
nected with the ministrations of the pastor, he 
would lend his aid in having the relations of 
both as free as possible from all defect. To 
prevent such misunderstanding, this article 
on the direct duties to pastors is inserted. 

The relative duties of people and pastor 
should be better understood than they gen- 
erally are. What is due to him should be 
made clear, and what practical mistakes arise 
in the relation should be indicated. Certain 
attentions from the people are the minister's 
right and are essential to the success of his 
work. In saying this we make no assump- 
tions of priestly reverence for him — a corrup- 
tion which has greatly injured the cause of 
Christ. We loathe all humiliation of the 
people to their spiritual head. 



SPOILING A PASTOR. 109 

It is clear that the pastor should receive 
from his people an adequate worldly support, 
and that he should not be humiliated by hav- 
ing to urge it himself from the pulpit. Then 
there should be rendered to him that respect 
which his work and character and attainments 
demand. There should be respectful and earn- 
est attention to the message he delivers in the 
pulpit. His personal character as a scholar, a 
Christian, a good citizen and as bearing an 
unblemished name make respectful attention 
only his due. It should be borne in mind, 
also, that practically for the sake of his sa- 
cred office he has cut himself off from 
the ordinary employments by which other men 
rise to wealth and honors. Above all, it can- 
not be ignored that he holds his commission 
from the Church's divine Head. By the or- 
derings of Providence and grace it has come 
to pass that, not by man primarily, but by the 
Author of our salvation, he has been appointed 
as a human agent to seek as his special work the 
redemption of his fellow-men. This may not 
be overlooked. For these reasons, and in or- 
der that the young and strangers may be in- 



110 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

duced to listen to him and live for ever, it is of 
transcendent moment that the pastor should re- 
ceive that deference which is so necessary to the 
successful performance of the duties of his 
office. This we claim for him, but at the 
same time with all our heart do we deprecate 
that sentimental, mawkish adulation which, 
especially if he be a young man, is in danger 
of leading him to feelings of self-importance 
and vanity which are utterly inconsistent with 
the spirit of his sacred office. 

This danger exists chiefly in the social life 
of the church, of which the pastor is necessa- 
rily a prominent element. The way in which 
it is done cannot well be analyzed, though 
there are certain leading features that can be 
felt. It consists of innumerable nameless, 
but unnecessary, attentions, laudations and 
gifts, which are heaped on him as if be were 
of a nature superior to other men. His say- 
ings are repeated, his pictures are sought for, 
his study is filled with superfluous gifts and 
his social visits are courted to a degree that is 
contemptible. He is compared with and ex- 
tolled above others. All this may be well 



SPOILING A PASTOR. Ill 

meant ; but if he be a weak man, it spoils 
him ; if he be a man of sterling sense, it is 
offensive. The tendency of such constant 
adulation is to lead its subject to fancy him- 
self possessed of that superiority which others 
attribute to him. He loses his simplicity and 
becomes less humble. In his preparations for 
the pulpit, relying on his lauded self-suffi- 
ciency, he becomes less thorough. He grows 
more and more egoistical. 

We would not insinuate that this is the 
effect in every instance or in a majority of 
cases, or even in a respectable minority, but 
we speak of it as a danger, and as a result 
sometimes witnessed. We are not hinting 
that ministers are more vulnerable in these 
respects than other men ; we believe that the 
contrary is the case. Because of their piety, 
their mental discipline, their familiarity with 
doctrines which are calculated to humble hu- 
man pride, ministers, as a class, resist the in- 
jurious tendency of such flattery to a degree 
that is surprising. But they would need to 
be very uncommon men not to feel its influ- 
ence. Unless special grace were given them, 



112 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

they would be far more elated both in feeling 
and in act. Still more is that grace needed in 
view of the fact that the feeling of self-suffi- 
ciency comes on so insidiously that the victim 
is not aware of its advance until he is con- 
quered. 

The injurious effects upon a pastor of such 
undue adulation do not terminate in his feel- 
ings regarding himself, but extend also to his 
treatment of others. He is in danger of be- 
coming supercilious in carriage, dictatorial to 
his people, and of assuming a superiority that 
to sober-minded people is wellnigh unbear- 
able. He grows intolerant of the opinions 
of others, as if his dicta must not be ques- 
tioned. Sometimes he gives reason for the 
world to infer that his personal appearance 
is with him a primary consideration, or even 
leads men to despise him as a dandy. It is not 
to be wondered at if such a spoiled bearer of 
the ministerial name should sometimes endeav- 
or to gratify his foppish taste by seeking a 
more congenial denominational connection. 
Less and less like the apostolical idea do 
such men become, until little more remains of it 



SPOILING A PASTOR. 113 

than the mere name and tenure of the office. 
Self appears to have taken the place of Christ, 
and self-consciousness to be a feeling that is 
never lost and a motive to which he and all 
connected with him must ever yield. The 
thought is humiliating. We blush to pen it, 
and nothing but the hope that a little impulse 
may be given toward its prevention could in- 
duce us to do so. 

We would drop the subject here were it not 
for the desire of making one more effort to 
warn the people against spoiling their pastor. 
It is to make it all-emphatic that such world- 
ly, such foolish, such weak, degeneracy of a 
pastor is a sight at which the enemies of re- 
ligion must justly sneer. They will exagger- 
ate the real evil, they will have matter for 
misrepresentation, and they will bring it to 
bear with all its weight against religion. Be- 
sides, others than enemies will be offended. 
This undue adulation of a pastor must needs 
be offensive to other true-hearted and hard- 
working ministers and laborers in the king- 
dom. The young will receive wrong impres- 
sions of the nature of the gospel and of the 

8 



114 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

character of its teachers, and they will be re- 
pelled from the ministers who should have 
been patterns of Him who was meek and 
lowly of spirit. In a word, the example of 
such pastors — fortunately, very few — will 
cause gainsayers to look down upon religion 
as represented by them. Men will despise the 
gospel ; they will withhold from pastors that 
respect which is their due as the ministers of 
Christ. As was said by an earnest brother of 
another denomination concerning such minis- 
ters in his own Church, " they lower the average 
esteem in which all ministers of the gospel are 
held." 

The safe and ever-applicable ,rule is to fol- 
low the pastor as he follows Christ ; so to fol- 
low him for his works' sake ; to follow him 
very closely as he shows the mind of Christ, 
who was u meek and lowly in heart." While 
he follows the dear Lord he will — he must — 
manifest that humility which is one of the 
chief adornments of a renewed soul; while 
cultivating the likeness of Jesus there will be 
no danger of giving way to pride. Then fol- 
low the pastor in humble walking with God ; 



SPOILING A PASTOK. 115 

listen to his message, which he has received 
from the lips of the Son of man ; aid him as 
he strives to build up the kingdom ; admire 
him as he endeavors to attain to the image 
of Him who was " altogether lovely ;" follow 
him as he follows Christ. Then will you be 
following Him who passed through the valley 
on to the cross, up to the crown and up to the 
bosom of ineffable glory, where all will be 
swallowed up in Him before whom " every 
knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and 
things in earth, and things under the earth, 
and every tongue shall confess that Jesus 
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the 
Father," and from the mounts of whose all- 
comprehensive glory the ransomed shall look 
back and see every age of time, every move- 
ment of the kingdom, every individual and 
every power of mankind bending toward the 
supreme and eternal adoration of Him who 
is the embodiment of glory and honor and 
immortality. 



AETICLE XIII 



GUARDING THE PASTOR ? S GOOD NAME. 



IN claiming so much as we do for the pas- 
tor, we are justified by the fact that he 
holds a public and official position. We can- 
not reiterate this with too much stress. With 
perfect propriety may we charge it home upon 
every private church-member, "Be careful 
of the pastor's good name, inasmuch as he is 
sacredly united with your souPs dearest in- 
terests, is your leader in the work of the 
kingdom, and is so closely associated with 
you as to influence your present safety, peace, 
usefulness and immortal destiny, as well as to 
aid you in the charge of training your chil- 
dren in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord." 

Care for the pastor's reputation is a subject 
which calls for special attention at the present 
time, when the falls of ministers are alleged 

116 



GUARDING THE PASTOR ? S NAME. 117 

to be so numerous, when they are so often ex- 
aggerated, and when they are so much used 
to the injury of the cause of Christ. That 
they are calculated to do much harm to that 
cause is only too evident. Certainly the en- 
emy gloats over them, triumphs in them 
and uses them diligently in his malevolent work 
of opposing religion. 

But why are the failings of ministers of 
the gospel so exultingly heralded ? Is not this 
very tendency one of the highest compliments 
that could be paid to Christianity ? When a 
charge against a minister which would scarce- 
ly be noticed in any other profession excites 
so much indignation, is it not an implied 
tribute to his calling? 

The congregation should be very tender of 
the reputation of their pastor, because he has 
peculiar temptations and dangers — dangers 
which many scarcely think of. Because 
of his habits of study and his official posi- 
tion he is not guarded by ministerial coun- 
selors as private Christians are. The very 
confidence which is reposed in ministers may 
become a source of danger. The motives for 



118 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

their words and acts cannot be known fully to 
others, and so are liable to be misunderstood 
and misrepresented. It cannot but be ob- 
served that ministers are targets at which the 
shafts of the enemy are aimed ; and the more 
conspicuous they are, the greater is their dan- 
ger. One of the easiest and most effectual 
ways of wounding the cause of religion is to 
wound its ministers. 

We claim no special immunity for the min- 
ister, but we do claim that such considera- 
tions as these be taken into account by those 
who very justly expect that his character shall 
be above reproach. Not only should it be above 
reproach, but above the very suspicion of 
it. No name should be more unblemished 
than that of the ambassador of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. A taint or a stain thereon 
would be his ruin. A mere fault in him 
would often be a crime. Scarcely any atone- 
ment would be sufficient to be made by him 
who has unjustly fixed a stigma upon the rep- 
utation of one who represents the cause of 
Christ and of souls. His character is a sacred 
thing connected with which is not only his 



GUARDING THE PASTORS NAME. 119 

own honor, but also that of the church and 
the church's God. The good name of the 
pastor is his strength, his ornament and, next 
to his divine Master, his reliance. With it 
are associated the highest interests of every 
individual and every family of the whole con- 
gregation. Ruin it or wound it, or even brand 
it, and all is gone. 

It must be manifest that it is the duty of the 
people of his charge to defend the character 
of their pastor. He cannot do this for him- 
self, and must look to them to do it for him. 
The worst assaults on him are often made 
when he knows it not. Many a lurking foe 
too cowardly to be seen in the light of day, as 
a thief in the night, robs the minister of his 
good name or wounds his character so deeply 
that social death must be the result. 

How can the pastor defend himself from 
such enemies ? He cannot do it, but his peo- 
ple can. It is sometimes the case that evil 
reports which have no other foundation than 
some misconception of his acts or words arise 
against him and spread and damage his useful- 
ness ; these reports might be counteracted by 



120 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

a word from some true friend. As a public 
man he must be the subject of animadversion 
in the community ; his words anji acts, involv- 
ing public interests as they do, may be ex- 
pected to meet the strictures of the public. 
His people must stand ready to meet these 
promptly. In this respect the pastor is in a 
different position from private Christians, and 
must rely upon his people to defend him and 
preserve his usefulness. 

It is a sad fact that the higher the pastor 
rises in influence and in usefulness, the more 
bitter will be the opposition to him. Many 
a pastor, when an obscure worker in a humble 
church, had scarcely one enemy, but when he 
arose to a higher post of usefulness encoun- 
tered opponents anxious to pull him down. 
His people should understand this, and should 
not be surprised when he is thus assailed. It 
is no new thing for ambassadors of Christ 
to be falsely accused. It was so even with 
their Lord himself, who was reviled as " a 
man gluttonous, and a wine-bibber, a friend 
of publicans and sinners." 

You too, private member of the church, are 



GUARDING THE PASTOR^ NAME. 121 

in danger when the good name of your pastor 
is assailed. Through him you too are likely 
to be wounded. Your own peace and safety 
demand that you should stand by him. Con- 
sider it, then, as a sacred duty to guard the 
reputation of your pastor. It is not a matter 
of inclination or of taste or of feeling, but of 
duty, to which you are summoned by the hon- 
or of religion, the glory of God, the interests of 
your church, your friendship to your pastor, 
and even your own safety. Quick as light- 
ning fly to the defence of his honor when it is 
assailed; allow no insinuations against him 
to be indulged ; admit no charges which are 
not founded upon unmistakable evidence ; 
give no ear to light accusations ; consider 
yourself attacked when thrusts are made at 
him; hold the accuser of God's anointed 
servant to a stern and instant responsibility. 



ARTICLE XIV. 
pastor's salary. 

THE subject of supporting the minister is 
one which, for obvious reasons, is so deli- 
cate and difficult for the pastor to handle in 
the pulpit that it receives but little attention 
as a religious duty. At the same time, it is 
so closely connected with the interests of the 
gospel that it ought to be made prominent 
in the ministrations of the sanctuary. We 
feel, therefore, that in these articles it should 
receive a place as conspicuous as possible. 

For the generous support of the pastor 
there are five reasons which are both obvi- 
ous and weighty. Each of them is sufficient 
in itself, but together they make the duty per- 
fectly clear. 

1. The first is the great stress which the 
Scriptures lay upon the duty of making liberal 
contributions for sustaining God's ministering 
servants. 
122 



pastor's salary. 123 

So much are the ordinances of worship 
dependent on this duty that our all-wise Lord 
has not left it to the temporary feelings or im- 
pulses of his people nor exposed it to the 
blight of men's never-ceasing selfishness. 
On the contrary, he has made his mind con- 
cerning it to be clearly seen by express and 
positive commands in each age and dispensa- 
tion of religion. At the earliest day we get 
a glimpse of its law in Abraham's offering a 
tithe to Melchizedek, the minister of God. 
At the commencement of the national ex- 
istence of the Jewish people, through Moses 
the law on this matter was made remarkably 
impressive. The form was different, but the 
principle was the same as that of to-day. 
One passage must serve as a specimen of the 
principle : " Behold, I have given the children 
of Levi v (the ministers of the day) " all the 
tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their 
service which they serve, even the service of the 
tabernacle of the congregation" Seven hun- 
dred and forty-five years after that we get a 
glimpse of the law again. The good Hezekiah 
then " commanded the people that dwelt in 



124 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and 
the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the 
law of the Lord." Passing on to the days of 
our Lord, we hear from his own blessed lips 
on this subject : " The workman is worthy of 
his meat" Still farther on, by an inspired pen, 
the gospel principle is given in full and for 
all future time : " It is written in the law of 
Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the 
ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take 
care for oxen, or saith he it altogether for our 
sokes f For our sokes, no doubt, this is 
written : that he that plougheth should plough 
in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope 
should be partaker of his hope." 

Is not this case, then, exceedingly strong ? 
The same principle prevailed in the time of 
Melchizedek, of Moses, ofHezekiah, of Christ 
and of Paul, and is enjoined on us — the prin- 
ciple that they who serve in religion should 
live from it. Need we anything more to im- 
pel us to the observance of the same law ? 

2. The second reason for the ample support 
of the pastor by his congregation is that it is 
due to him out of ordinary justice. 



pastor's salary. 125 

The sermon which he preaches to-day is not 
the work of an hour, or even of a week, but 
it is the attainment of the studies of all his 
past life. Eight or ten years are ordina- 
rily spent before he can begin to preach. 
While other young men were preparing to 
make money he was preparing to minister 
to the people. Brothers and schoolmates, 
perhaps inferior to him in mind and ener- 
gy, he now sees far above him in worldly cir- 
cumstances because he devoted his early life to 
this sacred cause. Has he not, then, the very 
highest claim for support by those for whom 
he sacrificed all ? Does not justice demand 
it ? Do you say that he should be above such 
motives and serve for the Lord's sake ? Can 
you tell me of one single obligation resting 
upon him to devote his all to the cause of 
Christ that does not rest upon you with equal 
weight ? Why must he sacrifice all, and you 
nothing ? 

3. A third reason for claiming support for 
the pastor is that ordinarily this is his only 
means of living. 

How is the man to live as his education and 



126 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

standing in the community require if his peo- 
ple do not furnish the means ? There may be 
one who has means of his own, or from his 
wife's inheritance the means may be obtained ; 
but should he be under the necessity of rely- 
ing upon these, especially on the latter ? Is it 
not his right to rely upon his people for that 
support? The Bible answer is very plain. 
It looks as if intended to meet any possible 
objection : " Do ye not know that they which 
minister about holy things live of the things of 
the temple f and they which wait at the altar 
are partakers with the altar f Even so hath the 
Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel 
shall live of the gospel" The pastor has volun- 
tarily cut himself off from the ordinary ways of 
making money, or even of making a living ; if, 
therefore, he does not receive a support from 
the people of his charge, his wife and his 
children must suffer. 

4. The fourth reason is that the minister's 
usefulness, comfort and self-respect require that a 
suitable worldly maintenance be made sure to 
him. 

" That he be made free from worldly cares " 



pastor's salary. 127 

is the object stated in his call to the church. 
Inevitably will it humiliate him in his own 
esteem and distract his mind from his work 
if he must plan and worry and suffer distress 
as to the means of living for his family. 
Take away his sense of independence and 
consequent self-respect, and you have made 
him weak. He cannot perform the duties 
of his office with success while he is worried 
about the support of his family. He cannot 
preach the truth as plainly as he should, nor 
can he administer discipline with proper fidel- 
ity, while distracted with fear of those who 
may or may not contribute the means of his 
support. Surely, the gratitude his people owe 
him, perhaps for their own souls' salvation or 
for the spiritual benefits conferred on their 
children, demand that his worldly wants be 
provided for. 

5. The spiritual interests of the people will 
be promoted, not only in his general ministra- 
tions among them, but chiefly in the respect 
for him which will thereby be increased. 

It is well known that what we do not pay 
for or make sacrifices for we do not highly 



128 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

esteem. No people will receive the desired 
profiting from their pastor while they see 
that he is a victim of poverty. That he must 
struggle with want will humiliate him in the 
esteem of his people as well as in his own. 
The pastor who is cheap will render services 
which will be regarded as cheap. On the oth- 
er hand, the respect for the pastor which a lib- 
eral support will produce will undoubtedly in- 
crease the profit from his ministrations. The 
very esteem in which he may know himself to 
be held will make him more useful. It is hu- 
man nature to need and desire encouragement. 
The pastor's sermons and all other official du- 
ties will be the better as he knows himself to 
be esteemed and loved by his people through 
the liberality of their provision for his tem- 
poral wants. 

Concerning this support there are other 
things that demand attention. 

First, the salary of the pastor ought to be ad- 
equate to the wants of himself and his family. 
It should not be so stinted and meagre as 
to seem to be extorted from unwilling hands. 
What is an adequate amount must be deter- 



pastor's salary. 129 

mined by the circumstances of each case ; cer- 
tainly, it should never be less than what might 
be considered the average income of the fam- 
ilies composing the church. In determining its 
amount it should be considered that his family 
has expenses beyond those of private mem- 
bers. There are, for instance, hospitalities 
incident to the pastorship of a church, and 
there are books which, as his tools, the pastor 
must have, and other such things, the cost of 
which is not small. Then, too, it is expected 
of the pastor — and his own feelings prompt 
to it — that he shall take a prominent part in 
contributing to objects of benevolence. It 
will thus be seen that the provision made for 
his salary must be liberal or his ministry will 
suffer. 

Our second remark is that the pastor should 
never be forced to importune the people for the 
salary. This is often done by requiring him 
to publish notices from the pulpit which are 
repugnant to his feelings. It humiliates him 
in his own view ; it lowers him in the esti- 
mation of the young and of others who can 
see nothing in it but begging for himself. It 



130 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

will not do to say that " business is business :" 
the church is not a business concern, and will 
not admit of business explanations. Like 
many other things, this error has come in from 
inadvertence, but it is not an insignificant one. 
The sum of all is, The pastor should never be 
compelled to beg for his own salary even in- 
directly ; private members of the church can 
do that with all appropriateness and with more 
success. 

One more remark about the pastor's salary 
must be made — namely, that it should always 
he paid promptly, even to the day. Churches 
are sometimes thoughtless about this matter, 
and so cause him distress. It will not do for 
the pastor not to meet his financial obliga- 
tions, and that on the very day when they 
are due. Nothing will ruin his influence more 
surely than delinquency here. He, of all men, 
must not be remiss in paying his debts. It is 
fatal to his standing if when the day of pay- 
ment, which he had fixed in anticipation of the 
receiving of his salary, arrives, he is forced 
to come short of his obligation. In multi- 
tudes of cases does this come to pass. That 



pastor's salary. 131 

pastor is afterward distrusted. No pastor 
ought to be compelled to go again and again 
for the salary which is due him. He must 
have a clean record, but how can he if the 
church disappoints him and forces him to 
break his engagements? 

Said the godly and eloquent Dr. Guthrie : 
" My ministry is wellnigh run, the voyage of 
my life drawing to its close. Standing, as I 
do, not far from the verge of another world, 
I feel that I must speak out fully and frankly 
in this matter. Doing so, I take leave to say 
that the salaries of the great body of our 
ministers are inadequate. I say more. I 
take leave to say that the salaries of ministers 
are quite inadequate to their position and their 
unavoidable outlays. I take leave very dis- 
tinctly and very advisedly to say that. And 
what is, and shall be, the result of that ? The 
greatest calamity that can befall a church — 
something worse than persecution, far worse 
than oppression." 



AKTICLE XV. 

PRAYER FOR THE PASTOR. 

THE most important of all the duties which 
the people of any church owe to their 
pastor has been reserved for the closing lines 
of these articles. That prime duty, without 
any question, and without a limit to the ear- 
nestness with which we press it, is the duty of 
praying for Mm. This duty we have reserved 
for the close in order that, occupying this con- 
spicuous place, it may be made the more em- 
phatic. All other duties toward him need to 
be accompanied with fervent prayer, so that 
they may be performed with the greater zeal 
and crowned with the more success. If his 
people would aid him in his momentous work, 
if they would inform him of cases where his 
services were needed with inquiring souls, if 
they would guard his time from needless 
waste, if they would encourage him with 

132 



PRAYER FOR THE PASTOR. 133 

words and acts of cheer, if they would stand 
by him when his name and his influence are 
assailed, or whatever else they would do to 
uphold his hands and give prosperity to his 
work, — they would do all with far more efficacy 
if they would hallow all by importunate prayer 
on his behalf. They need, and will doubtless 
have, his prayers, but he also needs theirs. 
If they will pour out their souls in prayer on 
his behalf, they will have a better appreciation 
of the solemnity of his work ; they will think 
more of his need of aid from all his people, 
and they will love him better. Their 
prayers for him will bind people and pas- 
tor more closely together, will cause them to 
realize that they are one in effort, and will 
lead them to a more unreserved confidence 
and warmer love. Hence we would make it 
as our last appeal that the people pray con- 
stantly and most fervently for their pastor. 
We would make this appeal for his sake, for 
their own sakes, for the Church's sake, for 
the world's sake, and, above all, for the sake 
of the Master, whose honor is intimately con- 
cerned. 



134 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

One of the advantages of this duty of 
prayer for the pastor is that each private 
member of the church can engage in it, and 
that with as much assurance of success as the 
strongest, the oldest and the most learned. 
To the most humble Christian we may say, 
" It may be that you cannot exhort in public, 
or give much to the cause of God, or exert 
much influence, but you can pray for your 
pastor and through him bring souls to Christ, 
edify the people of God and awaken the whole 
Church to a more devoted piety. You can 
pray to that God who sees in secret, hears 
the cry of the most humble and makes his 
own strength perfect in the weakness of those 
who call upon him. By laying hold of the 
arm of Omnipotence you can effect that which 
neither learning nor influence nor zeal of mere 
men can accomplish. Your very weakness 
becomes your strength — yea, the strength of 
the church — when it leads you to cast your 
whole reliance upon Him with whom is the 
residue of the Spirit. You may have little 
influence in the church, may be so young or 
old and feeble, may be overlooked by your 



PRAYER FOR THE PASTOR. 135 

fellow-members ; you may never have learned 
in a human school, or you may be an invalid 
unable to drag your way to the sanctuary. 
All this may seem to discourage you ; still, by 
pleading God's promises, importunately seek- 
ing for the Spirit's gracious influence and 
daily bowing at the throne of grace you 
may secure for your pastor an unction from 
on high, may preserve him from errors, may 
direct him in the duties of his solemn work, 
may aid him in his study and may give his 
words in the pulpit a power which nothing 
can resist. All this is possible for you by 
prayer, no matter how weak or obscure you 
may think yourself. 

Then, if all the members, or most of them 
— or even a goodly number of them — would 
unite in pleading for the pastor with Him 
who has said, " If two of you shall agree on 
earth as touching any thing that they shall 
ask, it shall be done for them of my Father 
which is in heaven/' what blessed, most bless- 
ed, results would soon follow to him, and 
through him to the church and to every 
family and individual in it ! Would that 



136 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

our appeal on this subject could reach and 
awaken the attention and purposes of our 
Christian people ! What scenes most blessed 
would soon follow ! Will not those who love 
the Lord who bought them pray for their pas- 
tor every day ? Will they not pray for him 
that he may be directed and animated as he 
prepares the sermon that will be " the savor 
of death unto death , or of life unto life," 
that he may be inflamed with love divine 
as he enters the sacred desk and that his 
words may be followed by the power of the 
Holy Ghost as he leaves it, that he may be 
made wise as he directs souls about to launch 
into eternity and that a guidance better than 
that of men may direct him in the moment- 
ous duties which press upon him every day 
and every hour of his ministry, on which so 
much depends? 

How much the pastor needs the aid of the 
Holy Spirit, which you may secure for him 
in answer to your prayers ! Well has it been 
said that " the success of his ministry depends 
upon his people's prayers." The most elo- 
quent are but earthen vessels. Neither he 



PRAYER FOR THE PASTOR. 137 

that plants nor he that waters is anything. 
If any fruit appear, it is God who giveth the 
increase. If souls are to be converted, if the 
church is to be revived, it is when the " Spirit 
is poured out from on high." Sinners are 
awakened, not by might nor by power, but by 
the Spirit of God. Then that blessed agent 
does not come unsought. His saving influ- 
ences are shed abroad only in answer to prayer 
— the fervent, effective prayer of faith. Pray, 
then, for the pastor. Pray for him through 
the week, while he is preparing for the Sab- 
bath, that God would fill his mouth with 
arguments, and that the very sermon he is 
studying may be owned of God. Then pray 
for him while he is in the pulpit. It was 
when the hands of Moses were stayed up by 
Aaron and Hur that Israel prevailed ; so will 
it be that the sublime work of the pastor will 
be seen to prosper when his people are pour- 
ing out their hearts to God in prayer on his 
behalf. 

The whole history of the Church of God is 
full of instances showing the power that was 
gained for the preacher by the prayers of the 



138 PEOPLE AND PASTOE. 

people. Let one or two be considered as we 
close these articles. The most powerful ser- 
mon ever preached on this continent, doubt- 
less, was that of President Edwards deliv- 
ered at Enfield on July 8, 1741. His text was, 
" Their foot shall slide in due time." When 
he went into the church, there was sad inat- 
tention ; " the people hardly conducted them- 
selves with common decency." As he went 
on, however, the audience became so over- 
whelmed with distress and weeping that he 
had to ask them for silence in order that he 
might be heard. A minister in the pulpit be- 
came so excited that he caught the preacher 
by the skirt and cried, " Mr. Edwards, Mr. 
Edwards, is not God a God of mercy ?" Some 
of the hearers were seen unconsciously bra- 
cing themselves against the pews, as if to 
keep from sliding into the bottomless pit. 
This was followed by one of the most 
powerful revivals that ever blessed our land. 
What was the secret ? Not the great eloquence 
of the speaker, for he read the sermon in a 
tame, unexcited manner. No ; but the secret 
was that the evening before a number of his 



PRAYER FOR THE PASTOR. 139 

deeply pious people met and for a long, long 
time wrestled in prayer that would take no 
denial for the blessing of God upon the ser- 
mon that was to be delivered the next day— 
for the Holy Spirit to accompany the words 
of the preacher and carry them home in great 
power to the heart of every hearer. That 
was the secret of success : it was heartfelt 
and united supplication. 

Another example is still more striking. 
Its history is found in an old work by the 
godly minister Robert Fleming of Rotterdam. 
The preacher was a Mr. Livingstone of Scot- 
land. He was unprepared for the service, and 
consented to preach with much reluctance 
and only after much persuasion. But the 
whole number of a large congregation spent 
all the night before in prayer. The devout 
gathering of men and women spent hour after 
hour beseeching God that he would own his 
word that was to be preached in weakness. So 
the night passed, and this was the account of 
the result as given by Mr. Fleming. " I must 
also mention," he says, "that solemn com- 
munion at the kirk of Shotts, June 29, 1630, 



140 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

at which there was so convincing an appear- 
ance of God and downponring of the Spirit. 
By the sermon on Monday it was known 
(which I can speak on sure ground) that 
nearly five hundred had at that time a dis- 
cernible change wrought in them, of which 
most proved lively Christians afterward. It 
was the sowing of seed through Clydesdale, 
and many of the most eminent Christians in 
that country date their conversion from that 
day." 

Still another instance we may give. It was 
in Wales, and the preacher was John Elias. 
He was in attendance at a great association 
of the Calvinistic Methodists. The house of 
his sojourn was known, and multitudes gath- 
ered there that they might be present as he 
led at the evening devotions of the family. 
They and he prayed until it was late at night. 
Next morning he preached in the presence of 
many thousands. Heaven seemed to come 
down to earth ; the atmosphere seemed filled 
with celestial music. At least twenty-five 
hundred souls were converted under that ser- 
mon, and they and their pious descendants 



PRAYER FOR THE PASTOR. 141 

gave lasting evidence that it was the work of 
God's own Spirit. When all secrets shall be 
revealed, how many other cases shall appear 
when sermons that were mighty in results shall 
be known as the answers of the fervent prayers 
of God's people ! 

In view of all this, and gathering into one 
all the motives of all these articles on the rel- 
ative duties of people and pastor, we would 
urge every Christian to pray for his pastor. 
Do pray for him ! His mission is to unfold 
the mysteries of God's word and to »save souls 
from death. Waving the smoking censer, he 
stands between the living and the dead, be- 
tween hell and heaven, seeking to intercept 
the downward progress of sinners to the one 
and to allure them up to the other. Hell or 
heaven must be the eternal abode of his hear- 
ers. He is preaching for another world. 
Every sermon he delivers tells upon the 
changeless destiny of those who listen to him. 
Ears that now hear him will for ever be filled 
with the anthems of the redeemed or vibrate 
with the wail of the despairing and the lost. 
Eyes that gaze up into his while from the 



142 PEOPLE AND PASTOR. 

pulpit he proclaims to them the salvation of 
Christ will soon see the Judge of all the earth. 
Who is sufficient for a work so great, for 
duties so holy, for responsibilities so over- 
whelming, save he who is filled with the 
Holy Ghost ? What but the constant and fer- 
vent prayers of his people can qualify the pastor 
for it ? Pray, then, for him earnestly. Pray 
for him, all ye who love the kingdom ! Pray 
incessantly ! What cannot be accomplished by 
prayer? Your prayers will encourage his 
heart and strengthen his hands. They will 
bear him ou and bear him up. Then be it 
remembered that this praying of people for 
pastor and of pastor for people will tend to 
bind them together in the most holy, most 
exalting and most enduring of bonds. 



THE END, 



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